For my sixth Yorkshire brewery I am checking out the beers from the two brewsters at Mallinsons in Huddersfield. They began brewing with a 6-barrel plant back in 2008 and successfully relocated to a larger 15-barrel plant in 2012. I am familiar with one or two of their beers having enjoyed them previously after purchasing them from the excellent beer retailer Cotteridge Wines in Birmingham. I therefore purposely saved them until last because I had a feeling that they could be challenging whoever was leading at this stage of the competition. The pressure is definitely on then.
Simcoe (4.0% ABV)
Every beer I have tried from Mallinsons has been a single hopped beer and the beer name is simply the hop variety used. The three I selected from my Yorkshire ales purchase follow this same theme and the first is the American hop variety Simcoe. This beer was lively and had a lovely golden glow to it. There wasn't a strong aroma but there were enticing citrussy hints. This hop gives a lovely rich fruity taste with hints of passion fruit but citrus notes come through in the finish to leave a light dry bitterness. A very pleasant beer and worthy of a score of 7/10.
Amarillo (4.3% ABV)
For the second beer I stay in the US with the Amarillo hop. This was another lively beer and in terms of appearance it looked remarkably like the first one. As with the first, the aroma was not strong. This beer was much more bitter than the Simcoe though with strong hints of mandarin oranges coming through which I particularly love about this hop. I've noticed on their website they now produce an Amarillo Extreme with intense orange aroma and flavours. Sounds wonderful. This is an excellent beer and I give it a 9/10.
Galaxy (4.0% ABV)
For the final beer in this selection from the great county of Yorkshire I revisit the Australian hop variety, Galaxy, which I came across with the beer of the same name from the North Riding Brewpub in my last review. I found that beer to be quite sweet with quite strong tropical fruit flavours. This one is much more citrussy and refreshing with a very dry crisp quality to it. Interestingly I have read the hop offers a combination of citrus and passion fruit flavours and between the two beers that's about right. This one picks up a score of 8/10.
To be honest I scored all of these beers 8/10 when I initially tried them. However, to obtain the same score and to differentiate between them I slightly adjusted the scores here. They are all very good beers but the Amarillo would be the one I'd choose ahead of the others with the Simcoe not quite matching the others.
My final mark is for the branding. The beer names are simple and tell you what it is. This can be a little boring perhaps but the hop variety is the distinct difference between the majority of their beers and therefore it seems sensible to label in this way. I would like to see some stronger beers in their output though but that's just a personal preference. The labels have a simple and distinctive logo which I like. The website is a little limited in terms of information but it does have a comprehensive beer list with tasting notes. Everything is a little minimalist but there is nothing to dislike so a score of 7/10 is awarded. This gave them a total of 31 points which was enough to put them into second place behind the worthy winners, The Hop Studio.
This completes my initial tour around the breweries of Yorkshire courtesy of my first order placed with the excellent Yorkshire Ales. Yorkshire is full of great breweries producing some lovely beers and I shall be continuing my reviews from this county over the coming months I'm sure and Yorkshire ales will be the place I purchase them from without doubt. For now though the league table is as follows and as previously mentioned, where there is a tie, the brewery scoring highest on the beer scores places highest.
1. The Hop Studio - 32 points
2. Mallinsons - 31 points
3. Geeves - 31 points
4. Axholme - 28 points
5. Revolutions - 28 points
6. North Riding Brewpub - 27 points
Cheers.
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