Ok. This blog is on a phased-retirement / hiatus but we had to write a bit about this - A Henderson's Relish beer!!! What the actual?
Wow. Relish is an essential condiment in our house ever since moving to the Steel City a decade or so back. If we run out, it's a minor disaster on a par with running out of (Yorkshire) tea bags or loo roll. So a beer. With Hendo's. I relished (sorry) the chance to try it as it was selling out like hot cakes around Sheffield. (I grabbed mine from the excellent Dronfield Beer Stop btw).
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| Does what it says.... |
A Bloody Mary porter. Makes sense. Not too heavy on the lactose, thankfully, with a subtle but long-lasting ancho chilli and szeuchan pepper kick that is pleasant and warming for sure. I liked it but got very little Henderson's Relish from it so I added a bit more myself, which worked pretty well. I was slightly surprised that there was no mention of salt or celery in the ingredients as I'd largely attributed them to the alleged hangover cure powers of a Bloody Mary. No horseradish either. hmm.
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| `Made in Sheffield` - ?! errm |
Did we like it? Yes. A good beer made by a very capable brewery that is reasonably faithful to the cocktail that inspired it. However, correct me if I`m wrong, it is made by Northern Monk in Leeds!!!!! Massive miss by our 20 odd Sheffield breweries and another major coup for Leeds. Scandalous. On the other hand, it's a shame that Henderson's themselves didn't insist on brewing the beer in our city but the sales of this novelty beer will be high no doubt.
Next up, a Worcestershire sauce pale ale brewed in Hereford. Tut, tut.
I share your concerns chaps. Surely if Hendos had any lasting affiliation to our great sunny City they would have asked one of our own throng to put a beer together with their wares? Its a weird one on many levels, since I love Northern Monk as well. And me and Meathouse both enjoyed it, even if it was as you said slightly shy of the relish....
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