When I see a weird sounding beer, I feel compelled to buy it. There is always going to be another IPA around the corner, but when will I get the chance to buy a Chorizo and Cheese Stout again? Okay, that one I’ve made up. However, this Garlic Beer I found in a shop at Borough Market is most definitely real! It’s brewed by Yates’ Brewery, who are based on the The Isle of White, for award winning farm shop and restaurant The Garlic Farm. The beer is an Amber Ale made with Black Garlic from the Garlic Farm and as a lover of all things garlic related, I simply couldn’t not pick this up to try.

The beer pours quite a deep chestnut colour with a solid off-white head to it. The aroma is incredibly light with no stand out smell other than an expected maltiness. In terms of the flavour, I felt there was a distinct lack of garlic. The base amber ale is solid enough, with clean easy drinking quality to it and a balanced bitterness running throughout.

A quick note on the bottle art: It gives quite a classic ‘real ale’ design to it. I liked, however, that they put the name in large writing on the front. It’s the whole reason I bought it, as my attention was immediately drawn to the gimmick.

I was genuinely quite disappointed by this beer. Not because it tastes bad, the amber ale is perfectly serviceable, but because in all honesty, I did not get a hint of garlic in it all. And to check it wasn’t just me, I gave my girlfriend a little taste and she said the same. I saw a few comments online of people saying they were glad for it to not have any garlic flavour which I think is crazy. Why buy it if you don’t want it to taste like garlic. I may have built up an idea in my head of this pungent beer that would make people recoil as you spoke after drinking it, but for it to have no discernible garlic taste is just a massive shame. What you are left with is an overpriced amber ale and a sense of what could have been. Maybe I’ll blitz some garlic and stick it in a Calsberg this weekend to make myself feel better…

Score: 5/10

My scores for a beer review are solely based on the product in the can or bottle. The ale itself is perfectly fine albeit nothing special. That said factoring cost and what I expected I wouldn’t recommend anyone to buy this. What are your thoughts on gimmick beers like this? Have you had any that are genuinely good or that you think I should try? Let me know! Cheers!

Additional Information:

Style: Amber Ale

Hops: Not Available

Malt: Not Available

IBU: Not Available

ABV: 4.5%

Gluten Free: No

Vegan: No

Location: On the Garlic Farm Webshop is the most reliable place.

Price: £4.50