Welcome back to the Eternal Hoptimist’s
Today much like last year, we are having a christmassy look at a set of beers! Last year, it was Vocations Celebration pack. However, this year we’re looking at something a smidge more colourful and maybe just maybe we might find a pot of gold at the other end!… it is of course Vault Cities Tasty Rainbow Series.
Unlike last time though I called in the cavalry so Stuart and I didn’t have to try the whole selection ourselves, so we had a little Christmas beer reviewing party!
Which of these sour skittley numbers do you think we will like best? my money is on the Orange or Strawberry…Let’s find out!..
First up is the vibrant and interesting smelling Orange!
- Name: Tasty Rainbow – Orange (5.4% ABV)
- Brewery: Vault City
- Aroma: Weirdly it smells a little like Orange and Cheddar cheese
- Appearance: Opaque Orange, no head when poured.
- Body: Medium bodied, low carbonation with no head retention.
- Taste: Orange fizzy Lucozade tablets with a sour kick that makes the mouth water.
The smell put me off a little, and a few of my guests reviewers refused to try this one. I must admit cheese its not something I expected when quaffing this beer, however it pulled it back on the taste a little, I’m a fan of Lucozade so I enjoyed this one. It had a real full fizz to it, which offset the low carbonation.
It had the fizz, but I don’t think it was a true representation of its skittle counterpart.
Sam’s overall rating: 3.6 / 5.0
- Name: Tasty Rainbow – Lime (5.2% ABV)
- Brewery: Vault City
- Aroma: Harsh very sour Lime scent, with an undertone of limeade
- Appearance: ‘Grotbags green‘, with no head when poured.
- Body: Medium bodied, with a good level of carbonation.
- Taste: A Sour punch that makes the mouth pucker and your eyes water before mellowing to a sweet limeade flavour.
This impressive Grotbags green (Grotbags being a beloved children’s tv presenter from the early nineties who happens to be a witch)certainly delivers on flavour, and it was resoundingly one of the top flavours of the set amongst the group. the sweet limeade notes really set off against the initial lime tones, definitely worth a try in our book.
Again a cracking flavour, but not really like its skittles counterpart, but dare i say maybe an improvement on it!
Our overall rating: 3.8 / 5.0
- Name: Tasty Rainbow – Blackcurrent (5.3% ABV)
- Brewery: Vault City
- Aroma: Strong scent of Ribena, and sweetness.
- Appearance: Blackcurrent / Magenta in colour with a light pink head when poured.
- Body: Medium bodied, good level of carbonation but poor head retention.
- Taste: Sour mouth-watering Ribena flavours with a good sweetness at the end that you can feel in your teeth.
This one was a resounding hit with the group, who doesn’t like Ribena? this one tickled those nostalgia receptors as well as delivered on flavour, this along with the Lime edition are definitely the best ones thus far in the series!
Again a cracking flavour, this one definitely had some comparison to its skittle counterpart specially the aftertaste.
Sam’s overall rating: 3.9/ 5.0
- Name: Tasty Rainbow – Strawberry (5.1% ABV)
- Brewery: Vault City
- Aroma: Campino Sweets, with a touch of sourness
- Appearance: Strawberry red in colour, with a nice this film little cream-like head when poured.
- Body: Medium bodied, well carbonated and ok head retention.
- Taste: Initially Sour Strawberries before mellowing and producing a vanilla cream flavour giving a Campino sweet vibe.
Another that hit quite hard on the nostalgia, a lot of us remember the Campino sweets and it was out initial thought when we first got a whiff of this tipple, even though, admittedly we didn’t know what they were called we could envision the delicious red and white sweet.
Cracking sweet and sour number, and the strawberry flavours really come through in this one too, but not reminiscent of its skittle counterpart.
Our overall rating: 3.7/ 5.0
- Name: Tasty Rainbow – Lemon (5.5% ABV)
- Brewery: Vocation
- Aroma: Lemon Cough drops with a touch of grass.
- Appearance: Quite an intense Lemon Yellow with a thin white head when poured.
- Body: medium bodied, well carbonated, poor head retention.
- Taste: Intense lemon sourness, enough to make you close your yes and your mouth implode! before mellowing to a sweetened lemon curd like flavour.
This one was a bomb of a sour, very intense! I would argue this was a little to intense for me but it was another hit with our guests, i did like the nice curd like flavour towards the end.
I did however find that this was the most reflective of its skittle counterpart.
Sam’s overall rating: 3.7/ 5.0
So, it turns out that the one we liked the most was the Blackcurrant! That one took me by surprise! especially as its my least favourite skittle!
If you have had the chance to try these one’s, please let us know which ones you liked best. These are definitely beers for a person not frightened of a sugar rush!
Make sure you drink responsibly and have your insulin on standby!
The|Eternal|Hoptimitsts 