Let me start by saying that I have never watched a single episode of Peaky Blinders however I am well aware of the hit TV series and I am certainly aware of Thornbridge Brewery. So when I was bought a gift containing a can of Shelby which is the official beer of the Peaky Blinders series I thought, why not, it’s a Thornbridge beer after all so it will be decent….or will it?
- Name : Shelby
2. Brewery: Thornbridge, Bakewell
3. Hops : Fuggles &Bramling Cross
4. Grain : Barley & Malt
5. Aroma : Malty backbone with a slight floral hop presence. There is no doubt from the aroma that this is very much an English IPA
6. Appearance : Pours a golden amber with a dissipating one finger white head
7. Body : Medium bodied, mouthfeel is just about spot on for a 5%abv beer
8. Taste : Straight up English IPA flavours. Decent malt base with the English hops giving off a light floral bitterness.
OK……Thornbridge I will be honest here, this one is far from your finest hour. The beer has all of the characteristics of a traditional English IPA and whilst I do still enjoy beers of this style I have had far better. Shelby is perfectly acceptable but to me just feels a little lazy, almost like someone approacehed the brewery and said ‘Hey Thornbridge, how do you fancy brewing the official beer of one of the biggest hit TV shows of recent times?’ Of course they are not going to say no!
The actual beer is somewhat lacking in many areas and having had so many beers from this brewery in recent times it falls far short of their full potential. Clearly the brewery knows that this one will sell on it’s name and official licence alone so I feel they have cut corners to get this one out in mass quantities.
On the positive side the beer is very traditional and it is quite refreshing to have a beer such as this in my glass rather than the punchy, hop forward IPA’s in recent times and fair play to them for this. It is certainly drinkable but doesn’t offer an awful lot to entice me back to buying another can. Probably one for fans of the show just to say that they have tasted the official beer of Peaky Blinders but for the more regular beer drinkers it might prove to be a little disappointing.
Mark’s overall rating: 2.9/ 5.0
The|Eternal|Hoptimitsts 