Beer of the Week

Camden Town Brewery,Gentleman's Wit. 4.3 %, £2.25

CAMDEN Brewery are fairly well established, having set up shop in early 2010 – since then they've made a range of refreshing, contemporary ales, their eponymous Camden Pale perhaps best loved among them.

Then, after a time, they caused a few grumbles by announcing their decision to move away from cask conditioned beer entirely, opting instead to use kegs to deliver their beer, favouring keg's consistency over cask's more variable delivery quality.

We never really got their casks this far North anyway, so I've only ever known the keg products, but it seems to be working for them: they now have an expansion in the pipeline, with some of their ever-popular Helles lager brewed at a larger facility in Belgium by the Camden team. Expect to see them in ever-more outlets over the coming years.

Gentleman's Wit is a Belgian style wheat beer brewed with roasted lemons and bergamot, and by far and away my favourite of Camden's wares, pouring a delightful lemon-yellow with a white billowing head. The aroma is led by honeydew melons, lemon-thyme, bananas, and black pepper; a fruity, sweet nose brightened up by a zing of lemon zest.

Sweet, with a moderately viscous wit-bier body and a prickling carbonation, banana ice-cream and lemon rind cut through a creamy sweet wheat background, before a touch of bitter orange peel and oaky, dry bitterness cut through the finish.

Interesting enough to bear scrutiny, and delicious enough to slip down without thought.

Recommended by Michael Bates, Trembling Madness, 48 Stonegate, York

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