St Austell Smugglers Ale

In an industry plagued by news of pub closures and faltering breweries, Cornwall’s St Austell are one major success story. They have flourished from small regional producer to one of the largest in the country, and have done it largely off the back of a single beer – Tribute. Their flagship 4.2% amber-coloured ale is found over most of England and Wales (although rarely in Scotland). This is something of a shame, as it’s extremely good and currently sits in our top four beers of 2009, and could well take it’s place in our Beer of the Year Show at the beginning of January.

St Austell are far from a one-trick pony however, and have recently increased their output with the addition of a new beer – Smugglers Ale. At 6%abv, it’s a rich ruby coloured beer, evoking the history of smuggling and wrecking on Cornwall’s coasts. Interestingly, it’s actually a blend of an un-named dark ale and an oak-aged barely wine, which is then returned to the whisky casks and matured for a further minimum three months. According to St Austell’s head brewer Roger Ryman, Smugglers Ale is a “truly complex beer with hints of whisky, creamy vanilla, toffee and spice.”

It pours with a fast-dispersing head, and is highly carbonated with a small amount of sediment in the base of the bottle. Roger isn’t kidding when he says it’s complex, the first thing I got from the smell was dandelion and burdock, but that may have been the tang of the Fuggles mixing with the oak aged aromas. As you’d expect, the roasted malts come out strongly in the taste, along with sugary molasses and the highlighted toffee. It doesn’t taste 6%, the vanilla sweetness shields the alcohol flavours in particular.

It’s very tasty indeed, strong yet drinkable – you can certainly tell two different beers have been blended together as the sweet malts hit the ruby whisky flavours. That’s actually what it reminded me of towards the end, a ruby malt whisky ale. Crucially – and this is where a lot of the more bespoke whisky ales fall down – the sweetness is balanced and not overpowering. It’s very good indeed, and so is a real pity that Smugglers Ale is currently only available in the South West of England. We were kindly sent some to sample, but might have to get more smuggled up to us somehow – it’s worth the risk.

St Austell Official Website
[Smugglers Ale is also available from St Austell’s online shop]