You would be hard-pressed to find a more unassuming beer than Arundel’s Tarrant Street – a low alcohol brew in a small, largely white can. Can this possibly be as enticing as those bigger bottles and tins, bestowed with bonkers names, and festooned with funky artwork?

Like many breweries, Arundel have split their range into ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ categories so they can target both the died-in-the-wool CAMRA folk and the US craft ale aficionados. Tarrant Street belongs to the latter.

Tarrant Street

Tarrant Street

It’s a yellow-orange in colour and comes surfing out of the can on a vast cumulus of foam. Is it me, or are beers fizzier out of cans than they are out of bottles? It smells like an American pale, with grapefruit, pine and some zingy sherbet.

The taste builds on the aroma with the addition of pineapple, pepper and a little bready malt in the background. The mouthfeel is surprising thick and it’s only in the aftertaste that you finally get any hint that this isn’t a much stronger brew. The alcohol warmth fades quickly, leaving the flavour of spiced pineapple.

For anyone wanting a less potent drink (only 1.1 units of alcohol!), but without sacrificing on flavour, this is an excellent option. It’s the little can that can.

Written by Richard Salsbury

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