I hear Table For Ten and I get images of a meal to be shared, a family feast, an array of dishes and side dishes that are seasonal and varied and nourishing.
This beer does not satisfy those requirements.
Set aside the fact you may not want to share this beer once you’ve tasted it, but it’s hardly the picture of a seasonal feast that I had in my head; it’s more what a teenager eats as a series of afternoon snacks.
“I’m hungry.”
“Have some fruit.”
“I’m still hungry.”
“It’ll be dinnertime in a couple of hours.”
“But I’m hungry now! I’m starving!”
“Well then, eat a bowl of cereal!”
But, of course, the cereal still isn’t enough for that growing body, so the teenager digs around in the pantry and pulls out the packet of Allen’s Snakes Alive hiding on the top shelf.
When juicy mandarin and orange segments lead into a smooth and subtle oaty, grainy taste, which is in turn edged out by the flavour of jelly lollies, it can hardly be a meal to share around the table.
Don’t get me wrong – I have great memories of eclectic and ridiculous combinations of after school snacks, and this beer is one of the tastier and easier drinking hazy pales (or 5.6 percent ABV beers) around.
I just wouldn’t serve it up as a meal to a table for ten.
Mick Wust
