All the way from Blandford, Dorset, UK comes the cutely named Fursty
Ferret. An amber ale, this little brew is put together by
Badger Ales,
and brewed by Hall & Woodhouse. At a meek 4.4% alcohol, there isn't a
lot of heft to this brew. It's sold in 500mL bottles adorned with the
cutesy rodents swilling beer from a cask, and a very brief anecdote
about curious ferrets wetting their whistle at a Dorset pub.
The
beer is a barely hazy light brown ale. It pours under a decent coating
of off-white head and has a malty, baked goods aroma. The flavour starts
sweetly, with a malt backbone, and underlies by a faint raisin quality.
The label told me to anticipate Seville oranges, but citrus wasn't
immediately evident to my much abused palate. The finish has a pretty
fair hops profile, though, which made this a little more memorable than
the average English ale, nor was it overly metallic.
Fursty
Ferret had a saccharine name, but the actual beer was pretty solid.
Flavour was quite full for 4.4%, it was sweet, but not too sweet, and
had an engaging finish. Obviously, I'd have liked a bit more boozy
weight, but it still tasted nice. Because of the silly packaging and
name, I assumed I wasn't going to like this beer, but t proved me wrong.
Rating: 8.0 out of 10.
