Summer Luvin

Summer Luvin (500ml, 4.2% ABV) Piddle Brewery 

And so to a brewery whose name is designed to make you think of urine. You have to hand it to the Piddle Brewery – they’ve got a very brave marketing department. The logo is interesting too – the dot of the ‘i’ comes at the end of a curved line suggesting … well, have a guess. The location of this dot is all over the place on their various logos and beer names, even when there’s an ‘i’ where it should naturally fall. It’s all a bit reminiscent of, erm … missing the target.

Okay, so they’re based in Piddlehinton in Dorset, but is that any excuse? Is it? Is it?

Summer Luvin is from their seasonal range, and is a take on the light pale ale. It doesn’t taste at all like you’d think. It tastes of beer.

Pale and pilsener malts make for a very pale colour, while New Zealand hops give plenty of fresh flavour to get your mouth around. Passion fruit and grape, they say on their website, though I thought it was a little more like marmalade. There’s an almost chewy character to the hops, which is very satisfying in a low-ish alcohol beer such as this. The finish is dry and crisp. In short, ideal summer drinking.

No problems at all with the beer, then. I just get the impression they’ve taken the name of their town a wee bit far.

Written by Richard Salsbury