The Brewery: “Founded in 1979, Exmoor Ales was one of the pioneer ‘Micro Breweries’ to stand against the onslaught of keg ale flooding the market from the ‘Big Brewers’. We concentrated on crafting ales of character and flavour which gained the support of the public and helped lead to the cask ale revival of the early eighties. That we were following the right path was confirmed when, with only our 13th ever brew, our 3.8% session bitter simply know as Exmoor Ale, was named Champion Best Bitter in the 1980 Great British Beer Festival”
The Beer: “Orange-gold in colour, and 4.2% abv, Apollo uses three American hops in the blend, Apollo, Cascade and Willamette, the usage of which, according to Davis, ‘was a brilliant chance for us to go all-out and throw lots of American hops in and see where it took us. I have always loved New World pale ales and IPAs, especially those with Cascade and Willamette in combination, as I think they produce some wonderfully aromatic beers, with oodles of grapefruit and lychee character. So this was a great chance to do a New World pale ale, but in the Exmoor style!”
Reading the pump-clip, I didn’t think I’d be over keen on this - but in the interests of ‘research’ and all that….Extremely hoppy and not for me, although given that it was drunk on a very hot summer’s night I found it perhaps more palatable than I would usually.
The Six Bells, Fulbourn, Cambridge. July 2019.