Liberation Ale Suthwyk Ales

Suthwyk Liberation (500ml bottle, 4.2% ABV)

Liberation Ale

You’d be hard pressed to find a more patriotic pint than Liberation. Named in honour of Southwick’s role in the D-Day landings, its label features a black and white photograph of Eisenhower and Montgomery examining, rather anachronistically, a bottle of Liberation.

Appropriately, it uses Liberty hops, an unusual American variety I can’t remember having tried in any other beer.

It’s a golden brew with a nice frothy top. In many modern beers, the aroma is dominated by hops. Not so with Liberation – the hops are there (earthy and berryish) but it’s the bready character of the malt that strikes me, something I always take as a sign of good quality barley.

On the tongue, it tastes of honey and spice with a mellow lemon character. There’s a pleasant tug-of-war between the sweetness of the malt and bitterness of the hops – one of the hallmarks of an English bitter. The texture is smooth and slightly

syrupy – thicker than you might expect for such a low alcohol brew – and the aftertaste is long, fruity and bitter.

Where Suthwyk Ales are concerned, I normally see myself as a Skew man, but this bottle of Liberation has got me thinking …

Written by Richard Salsbury