Marks & Spencer’s India Pale Ale

A nice new addition to the Ikea retail park neat Birstall (Jnc 27, M62) is a shiny modern M&S Simply Food. And it’s a good one, with a fabulously smelling bakery counter (it’s more of a patisserie really) and a posh home area.

But the most impressive part came as I rounded the wine aisle to a plinth of bottled ale, including 3 British IPA, Italian lager and regionally brewed British ales (the British ale include Sussex and Yorkshire biter, and despite the same branding they are brewed in the country they take their name from).

I only picked up three, but seen as the girl on the till offered me a wine carrier, I thought it best to run back for three more to fill it up (equal weight distribution and all that!).

So I plumped for an organic cider (naturally), a couple of IPAs, the lager and the two aforementioned regional bitters.

The IPA poured a deep gold, with a typically reserved head that disappeared very quickly. The first gulp brought a pleasing hoppiness, but unfortunately I couldn’t say much more than that. Halfway through rather than florally hops I was worrying about the malty aftertaste that was a little too medicinal to be really enjoyable.

Scent wise there wasn’t a lot that I liked and I was left disappointed. I drank this with a chilli, so perhaps that made a difference, but would have expected an IPA to have it down better than this.

Sorry M&S, I must applaud you for the intention and stocking a great range (keep it up!) but this IPA just isn’t my cup of tea.

I’ll give another chance in the future, but on this performance I’m off for a North America hop monster to satisfy my needs!