I recently acquired this beer from my dad, who was passing the Hambleton Brewery, I knew they bottled ales for other breweries after a recent tour there, however I didn’t realise they also sold them from their shop.
As neither my dad or myself had heard of Bowland before we thought we would try a couple of their ales (along with some of Hambleton’s and some they bottled for Acorn)
Bowland Headless Peg
The first of these was Headless Peg, a 4.5% bitter.
The name is apparently derived from the legend of Peg O’Neil who is a local water spirit, who’s headless statue sits by the river a few miles from the brewery.
There was a distinct caramel smell and a little bit of hops on the nose as i poured the beer, it was a lovely rich dark golden colour and had a really nice creamy coloured head.
It tasted quite bitter with a lovely hoppy characteristic, I could also taste a bit of raisin and caramel, almost like black forest gateau (yes i know I’m a bit crazy). This made it a little different from your run of the mill English Bitter, which I think makes it stand out quite a bit.
Headless Peg was quite rich but that didn’t stop it being seriously drinkable, out of the 6 bottles I bought I only have one left (although i think i did give one to Dan and i think Emily may have polished off half a bottle).
I haven’t seen Bowland beers in many places and I will certainly be trying to get hold of some of the other beers in their range (their website seems a little out of date so I am not entirely sure what they currently bottle.
I used to work for Bowlnad before moving to work at the Sheffield Tap. They only do 3 bottled beers regularly, these are two of them the other is Cromwell stout. If you get chance try the Hen Harrier and especially Bowland Dragon in cask form.