4 Hearts Pale Ale

When Ken Friend took over as head brewer in 2017, he modified the recipe of the 4 Hearts pale ale. As well as introducing Amarillo and Enigma hops to join the Cascade that was already there, he dialled back the malt profile to let these hops shine. The result is a pale ale with oomph, bringing punchy citrus and a slight berry character to stand centre stage, with English malts assisting.

Perhaps surprisingly, even though the final product gives you more slap-in-the-face fruit flavours than its predecessor, it goes down even easier than it did before. Oh dear.

Mick Wust