Rosey Nosey is reviewed by Craig Heap
Rosey Nosey
Bateman’s
ABV 4.7%
The name suggests a warming beer and jollity waits within the bottle for the seasonal soul, and yet one can’t help but feel the Santa on the bottle has the look of a vagrant drunkard some joker stuck a red hat on. This sense of a cut-rate Christmas, of presents wrapped in newspaper and dogs with prop-antlers in lieu of real reindeers, hits again when the beer is poured into the glass.
The head is more dishwater soap suds than a white Christmas, which briefly sit on top of a thin bodied, medium brown beer before disappearing quicker than the contents of the liquor cabinet when the relatives come to visit on Boxing Day. The aroma is pleasant at best, if perhaps as exhilarating as an unwanted Secret Santa present: there’s a strong vein of maltiness, backed up by bready yeast and bonfire toffee.
On the tongue it delivers that maltiness in the form of fruity malt loaf. The sweetness is underpinned by a wholesome bitterness, not unlike sourdough bread, which gives a long finish. With a good swirl around the mouth, the occasional hint of allspice, Demerara sugar and banana bread comes through.
It’s a pleasant enough beer, but it doesn’t have enough pomp and circumstance to belong in the seasonal ale category. Indeed, without the vagrant drunkard Santa on the label, it might rate as a good beer, but in its category it fails to get down the chimney and deliver the goods.
