Skinner’s of Truro are becoming oddly ubiquitous in pubs around the UK. Their flagship beer, Betty Stoggs Bitter, turns up in our local in London from time to time. They’ve got a vast range of beers covering a whole gamut of styles (honey beer, old ale, wheat beer and so on) none of which have ever really impressed us much. But we just couldn’t resist trying their brilliantly cheeky Corona clone, Skinner’s Cornish Lager.
Billed as a “light lager”, it’s clearly American inspired, and even uses American hops. The clear 330ml bottle makes the specific inspiration very plain: a certain bland Mexican beer usually served with lime.
True to its inspiration, it was horribly skunked and more-or-less flavourless. And, yes, it was improved by a slice of lime chucked in the glass.
So, not a great beer, but surely a great way to take a slice of the market otherwise lost to license-brewed rubbish. After all, it’s just not practical to sling a few bottle-conditioned ales in a bag and take them to the beach. For one thing, they’ll get shook up. For another, you can’t drink them from the bottle. And — the final nail in the coffin — they just don’t look cool.
PS – could this be a late session post?
