Rocky Head Brewery
Pale Ale
6.5%
Southfields, London, UK
I spent four years in SW18 when I was a student so when I found out about Rocky Head Brewery, based in Southfields (not from Putney or Wimbledon) I had an affinity immediately. The brewery was founded in 2012 by a group of friends inspired by the American craft micro brewing scene. The brewery, fronted by Steve Daniels describe Rocky Head as being “cobbled together” and having a “ramshackle brewery”.

Even the website, hosted on Google sites looks like a homage to the Angelfire days. However, it is the beer that matters. The Pale Ale is a very malty, strong pale ale that packs a punch at 6.5%. They say, “Our inaugural Pale Ale is an exuberant mix of malted and toasted barley and an obscene amount of New World hops added at every possible stage of the brewing process. Unfiltered and bottle conditioned to preserve all the flavour.”

The beer has a citrus aroma to it and you can taste the new world hops (New Zealand, I suspect). For a pale ale it is a lot stronger than you’d expect and is more on the side of an IPA than a pale ale, in my opinion. Either way it is a lovely ale! Really looking forward to seeing what else Rocky Head have up their sleeve in 2015.

OVERALL: 3/5