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Batemans is an old family brewery, dating from 1874, but it's not resting on its traditional laurels. Stuart and Jaclyn Bateman, the brother and sister who keep the flag flying above the windmill that looms over the brewery in Wainfleet, Lincolnshire, regularly supplement their core brands with new styles.
Mocha Beer contains both coffee and coffee beans, which are added to the copper during the boil with hops. The grains are pale and crystal malts and the only hop used is the Golding.
It's available from the brewery shop and it's worth a visit to pick some up as Batemans enjoys an idyllic setting on the banks of the River Steeping. (Wainfleet is on the Grantham or Nottingham train lines
to Skegness.) The site includes a visitor centre and the Brewing Experience that traces the history of the company and shows all the stages of the brewing process. Visitors can sample the full range of
Bateman's beer, accompanied by good pub lunches, in a charming bar at the foot of the windmill.
Batemans, Mocha Beer (England) 
The amber-coloured beer has a powerful aroma of coffee and chocolate/cocoa, underscored by a peppery hop note. In the mouth coffee and chocolate coat the tongue but there�s a powerful hop balance from the Goldings and a rich malt loaf character. The finish is dry with a continuing coffee and chocolate note but bitter hops build alongside the malt. This is a complex beer and is wonderfully refreshing. Adding unusual ingredients to conventional malt and hops is not always a success but it works brilliantly with this beer.
It�s available from the brewery (Salem Bridge Brewery, Wainfleet, Lincs) or from branches of the Co-operative in Lincolnshire.
6.0% ABV, 50cl, �2.49, brewery website, Local Co-op stores. It would also be worth asking the Co-op stores in your parts of the country to consider stocking it.  |
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