Review: Deuchars IPA

Beer: Deuchars IPA
Brewery: Caledonian (Edinburgh)
Type: Indian Pale Ale
Served: Bottled
Alc: 4.4% Vol
Album listened to while reviewing: Hypothetical by Threshold (2001)

This is the first review for this Edinburgh based website so it was with very deliberate decision the Edinburgh synonymous Deuchars IPA by Caledonian was selected.

Originally hailing from Sheffield, one of the early beers I relished when my tastes matured (and I realised craft brewed alcohol’s absolute superiority) Deuchers IPA was one of the beers I relished the most. When I first knew I was moving to Edinburgh, being in the home of one of my favourite beers was a real boon. It was an added bonus that one of my favourite’s brewery, known locally as The Caley, is the only one to still be operating out of the 40+ breweries that began in the 19th century.

That was only available served from pump. From a bottle, however, its a somewhat different experience.

What first hits you from the bottled version, if you’ve only ever been used to draft, is how fizzy it is. It hits right on the tip of your tongue in a way that’s positively surprising. This isn’t to say its a bad thing, surprises are good, I like surprises. But its certainly different.  Deuchers IPA draft is a very laid back, cosy, fleecy experience whereas from the bottle, its categorically excitable.

Its also got a noticeable hoppiness that seems to hit the top of the mouth at a 45% degree angle before melting onto the tongue and down the throat.

Its also leans rather heavily towards the more watery end of the spectrum, even for a bottled beer. These qualities combine to make it refreshing yet definitely bitter, somewhat like drinking ready salted crisps or peanuts.

But that’s not the whole story. The other side of the story concerns old fruit. An immediate touch on tongue is one of old lemon flesh; the kind that’s been left in the fridge too long half cut open after a house party and you lick it just to see if it’ll stretch to one more gin and Irn Bru.

In the middle of the taste this transforms into the scent of a wrinkly old apple with the skin still on.

On the nose is a wet but resolute bonfire party, one where the fire singes the sprinkling rain which in turn patters on your friend’s floral anorak, determined not to let the precipitation stop her from writing her name with a sparkler in one hand, a can of rained-in beer in the other.

And that’s what sums up Deuchers IPA. Its determined to have a good time despite prevailing conditions. A standard beer being all the best a standard beer can be with, alongside the barley and wheat, some happy memories mixed in.

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