Bark or Bite???

Over the past two days, I've tried two very similar but very different beers. I say similar only because of there labels and names. Since getting them to the shop, we always keep forgetting which one to stock up! The two beers in question come from Sharp's Brewery, hailing from the land of Cornish Pasties mmmm :D

Yes Chalky's Bark and Chalky's Bite are two new beers the shop has just received and I've been really looking forward to trying. I'll start with barking rather than biting.

 This is the second collaborative brew coming from Rick Stein and Stuart Howe of Sharps (from the two beers.) They make a point of noting the beer is a classic aged beer, which has spent four months conditioning at the brewery and in the bottle, and is brewed with ginger. The aroma is quite subtle on the ginger, lots more big lemon-grass and a light sweet caramel. The flavour and body is subtle and refined, it's what I've come to expect a great Cornwall beer is like. The ginger is again quite restrained, but it leaves a nice spice on the tongue, with a tiny hint of cinnamon? My only bad points about this brew are that, 1. it's too easy drinking & 2. the bottle is too small! ;) Apart from that it's a great 4.5% classic.

The second beer (and by that I mean the first Rick and Stuart produced together) Is Chalky's Bite; a strong 6.8% beer aged with fennel. It's once again aged in the brewery and the bottle, for 3 months this time. It's a drying spicy beer, big bouquets of orange peel, coriander and lemon soaps. I'm not sure if it's the aging, but it has a distinctive carbonation feel, which is very appealing to me - it's not too gassy but still quite zippy. It's soft fruity and really easy drinking for a almost 7%er! It says that this beer is inspired by classic belgian beers, which confuses me because it sh*ts over quite a few belgian classics that I've had in my past.

There you have it, two beers to try get your hands on. I know Beer Rits has quite a bit. They didn't go too shabby with the food I paired them against too. (No pasties unfortunately, I settled for some shepherd's pie and steak soup)