Action Figures & Their Beers - Here Be Dragons! Again.

by Beedo Sookcool
on 2013-05-23, 13:26:43

DOUBLE DRAGON

This “National Ale of Wales,” as it’s called om the label, is one of those beers I wanted to get around to covering, but couldn’t think of how to do it. I’d already used the Dragon from Shrek for roasting-chestnut-flavoured Christmas ale, I had plans for Beast Wars TransMetal II Megatron, and Granamyr was still months away from release at the time of this writing. Fortunately, two Marvel females I got for custom fodder (Majik and Kitty Pride) supplied the necessary reptiles, in the form of two different versions of Lockheed as their pack-in familars. There. Double Dragons.

At 4.2% ABV, it’s about average-ish in terms of potency. The label reads: “This deep copper red ale has a tangy red fruit flavour with nutty, toffee overtones. Having won a gold medal at the International Brewery Exhibition, Double Dragon is truly a champion ale.” And then it goes on to say the same in Welsh, a language I’m happy to support native eductaion therein with my tax money, but which I actually understand less than Huttese or Klingon.

Honestly, unless my taste buds have been blunted by lack of beer of late, I don’t find much “red fruit flavour” (whatever that may be) in this ale. What red fruit are we talking about? Apples? Cranberries? Tomatoes? Toxic yew berries? It is tangy, though, and perhaps nutty or wooden (and since walnuts taste a bit wooden to me, I’ll say “walnutty”), but the toffee allusion eludes me. The tangy aspect fades into a slightly bitter aftertaste, but that doesn’t last long, and soon melds into a tingly, hard-to-describe after-aftertaste, which isn’t unpleasant, just . . . a bit unusual. Regardless, this is indeed a very good ale that I recommend you try if you haven’t already done so. It’s not one of the best beers I’ve drunk, but its quality is certainly well above average. Very good for washing down snacks or unwinding with after a Hellish night shift.

Drink this if you also like: Any other mellow, tasty ale with a zing in the aftertaste.

Next week: Another dragon-themed review!