I’m just getting round to catching up on a few beers I’ve been sent over the last few months, Salopian very kindly sent me a couple of bottles that I drank a while back and just like Darwin’s Origin they gave me a real surprise.
According to the blurb, The creation of Oracle came about because of the employment of a new member of staff and a trip to a local pub. Jake Douglas joined the brewery in early 2008 having spent a decade at a brewery synonymous with hoppy beers; a promise was
Another cracking beer from Salopian
early on to brew a beer to his taste. The trip to the pub was to try a beer of this style. The ambition was to create a balanced low gravity golden beer with a striking hop character. After a period of test brews Oracle was born.
Oracle pours a lovely light golden colour, it smells really grapefruity and slightly grassy.
It really did pack a punch for its bang on 4% ABV It’s quite dry and bitter and the grapefruit from the aroma is really pronounced, a little bit of sweetness comes in as the beer warms up so my tip is to drink it pretty cool, as this definitely shows off the hops a little bit more and creates a really great supping beer.
Its not over complicated, the hops and fruityness give it more than enough to keep just about any beer lover happy, and I can see a lot of people falling in love with this beer.
Along with Darwin’s Origin, Oracle is a cracking beer and one I would happily buy a case of and could see my self drinking on a regular basis.
Check out the Salopian website here or follow them on twitter here or my review of their delicious Darwin’s Origin
I’m still in two minds over Salopian – only ever get their wares at Beer Festivals, and for every good one I have, the next one leaves me wanting – I didn’t enjoy my Darwin’s at all. However, that was a conditioning issue; I’d give this one a try, no problem.
Leigh, funny you should mention Darwin’s seems a few people had issues with conditioning etc, I did get a bad bottle in some I picked up after I reviewed it….should probably update the review.
Dear Andy,
as I work at the speed of a bullet, I have just noticed your reviews of Darwins and Oracle from last year – thank you very much they were very positive! With ref. carbonation – our bottles are brewery conditioned and then filtered and bottled under carbonation – usually at Bath ales as they are very good at it. I specify the lowest carbonation possible as I dont like my bottles too fizzy! I’m very surprised that you had a massively overcarbonated one in amongst the batch, as they would all have been from the same case and treated in the same fashion – they shouldnt vary the way that BC beers do. If you store them too warm, or serve them too cold the CO2 can come out of solution at an alarming rate though! regards Wilf nelson, salopian brewery
I tried the Oracle. I hate sweet beer and this was nice and bitter…..but it didn’t taste of anything. Do they use hops?