Beers Of London Series: 63. Brixton Brewery - Effra Ale 4.5%

Beers Of London Series
63. Brixton Brewery - Effra Ale 4.5%


This is the third of the beers I was sent by Brixton Brewery to review after Electric IPA and Reliance Pale Ale and as I've covered their story thus far in some detail in my other two posts I'll keep this brief and focus on the beer itself. I had heard of other bottles of this batch pouring flat, hence the slight delay in reviewing but I'm pleased to say that this was not the case with mine when I opened in up. I will mention however that the beer is named after the river runs under Brixton via the sewerage system when this was built in the mid-nineteenth century following the design of Sir Joseph Bazalgette, and it enters the Thames at an overflow outlet near Vauxhall Bridge.

Effra Ale is an American Amber Ale described as fresh and feisty on the label. It pours a chestnut brown with a touch of russet red and a thin beige head with the fresh mango peel aroma with a little freshly baked wholemeal bread in the mix, it's a touch earthy too and has a little twist of citrus in there as well to round it off nicely. A prickly carbonation rough up the tongue, giving way to an unexpected cherry drop flavour dissolving into a smooth apple caramel that fades into a rather tasty orangey fudge finish.
This is the sort of beer that I really want to drink at least three of in a row as I could see those gorgeous sticky fruity flavours building and becoming more accessible the more you drink, filling the mouth wonderfully. All three of the beers that I've drunk from Brixton so far have been very good indeed and I'm looking forward to see what they will produce now that their core range is established, and if you're ever Brixton way I urge you to pick up a bottle of each if you can.