Constellation Brewery

Having been passed this nice little collection of beers from Mo, many thanks, I had to try them, of course, beers, including lagers, true (!), from the reasonably new brewery, Constellation Brewery, Unit 21 Orchard Business Centre, Sanderson Way, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1QF (website). Noting the name of the brewery you can guess that the theme of their beers' names is constellations, consequently, I shall also share the extra information about the constellations that they provide on the cans in addition to my tasting notes...

I'll start with Lupus Lager, 4%, and I was surprisingly pleased by the taste, apparently brewed using a French hop variety, preceded by a big aroma, with wheat malt prominent, indeed, I was surprised to see that wheat malt is included for all these beers! Golden coloured, refreshing, with a subtle flavour from the wheat, and a nice dry finish... this was my favourite of the lot! 

"Lupus is a constellation located in the deep Southern sky. It's name is Latin for wolf. Lupus was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations., although it was previously an asterism associated with the neighbouring constellation Centaurus. Symbolism: The Wolf. Brightest Star: a Lup."

Staying with the lagers, the 4.7% Hydra is brewed to be a Czech Pilsner style. This one has less aroma than the Lupus, guessing less wheat malt is used, but what do I know?!? My notes say "basically a lager" and OK, I'm not an expert on lagers, sorry, that's as good as this gets...

"Hydra is the largest of the 88 modern constellations, measuring 1303 degrees, and is also the longest at over 100 degrees (OK, I don't understand, but they're sharing this, so I am too!). It's southern end abuts Libra and Centaurus and its northern end borders Cancer. I was included among the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy (above). Symbolism: The Sea Serpent. Brightest Star: Alphard."

I'll now deal with the ales/bitters, first, the session bitter Indus (3.9%) is brewed using English and new world hops, producing an easy to drink dry refreshing pale ale with a dry bitter finish, not bad at all, I wrote...

"Indus is a constellation in the southern sky first professionally surveyed by Europeans in the 1590s, namely Dutch astronomers, and mapped out on a globe by Pieter Platevoet by early 1598 and thus included in Bayer's keynote, consolidated sky atlas of 1603. Symbolism: The Indian. Brightest Star: The Persian." 

And my final review is of the American Pale Ale styled Cassiopeia (4.5%), 'heavily hopped with mainly American varieties' and comes out cloudy... I know it's fashionable to produce cloudy beers, but knowing brewers who produce 'vegan friendly' beers that are clear, eg Marble (website) has been brewing 'vegan friendly' beers for years, clear as a clear beer can be, well, anyway, to this beer. Not bad, big fruit aroma and grapefruit in the taste and a dry bitter finish, it would be interesting to drink a cask version, if they produce one, but preferably clear. 😉

"Cassiopeia is a constellation in the northern sky, named after the vain queen Cassiopeia in Greek mythology, who boasted about her unrivalled beauty. Cassiopeia was one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Symbolism: The Seated Queen. Brightest Star: a Cass."

Cheers Mo! 👍