July/August 2022
Beer of the Month
OSSETT BREWERY WHITE RAT HOPPY PALE ALE (4.0% abv)
Rat's where it's at.
If you’re not a lover of beers such as Peach Melba Jesmond Metro & Cracked Pepper IPA; Germolene Grapefruit & Rice Krispie Sour; Crème Brulée Chocolate Salt Cod Stout; Mango Django & Dildo Gewurtztraminer Mild, or any combination of those, this is the rodent for you.
Sales of the hoppy pale ale originally brewed at the Rat Brewery in the Rat and Ratchet pub in Huddersfield, have soared in recent times, gathering a cult-like following. So, to keep up with demand White Rat has been brewed at its ultimate owner Ossett Brewery over the past three years.
This unfashionably pale, hoppy ale is produced from low-colour malt, plus its combination of Cascade, Columbus and Amarillo hops from the US produces an intensely aromatic aroma that influences its flavour right through every sip and on to a resinous finish.
Devotees of White Rat, which features almost permanently at Newcastle’s Crown Posada, Free Trade Inn and Mean Eyed Cat, plus The Old Fox in Felling, Gateshead, certainly know the score.
Ossett Brewery owner Jamie Lawson guaranteed Beer Today website that the beer would be faithfully replicated at the main brewery and he was true to his word.
Devotees of White Rat, which features almost permanently at Newcastle’s Crown Posada, Free Trade Inn and Mean Eyed Cat, plus The Old Fox in Felling, Gateshead, certainly know the score.
Ossett Brewery owner Jamie Lawson guaranteed Beer Today website that the beer would be faithfully replicated at the main brewery and he was true to his word.
He said: “Demand for White Rat is now pretty much on par with our leading brew, Yorkshire Blonde, which is quite incredible. As true White Rat fans know, we have brewed it successfully at Ossett for over three years. So I can assure any doubting diehard fans that the beer remains as brewed previously (at the Rat and Ratchet). If anyone says differently, well, that’s just fantasy, fake news.”
No need to experiment with White Rat, just dive straight in and get on with it. Anyway, in comparison, Gewurtztraminer Mild is a pussy-cat. (AG)
All you mead to know
We interrupt our run of Pub Pinters – Northern creatives who illustrate pubs simply because they love them – to bring you this colourful tale from London.
Gosnells Peckham-based Meadery (mead is produced from honey and after being fermented is probably the world’s oldest alcoholic drink) has commissioned an artists’ collective called Isshoo to come up with a vibrant new look to its Hole In The Wall pub. Isshoo has given its outside space a facelift with colourful benches, a bright green fence and yellow canopy – a colourful place away from the grey hustle and bustle of Waterloo.
Limited-edition prints by Isshoo for Gosnells Meadery, Peckham, London, are available at £45 each
Isshoo’s Lena Yokoyama and Rory Wynn – teachers at Camberwell College of Arts – have also created a multi-coloured beehive to act as a pub sign above the door.
Gosnells owner Tom Gosnell says: “Colour brings people joy, and we wanted to bring more of this, especially in an area filled with commuters rushing about like hot ants. It’s a pleasant element of surprise, and we like to surprise. We look forward to future collabs with them and with other emerging artists.”
Ten copies each of Isshoo’s four new limited-edition Hive series of prints pictured here have been made available – visit gosnells.co.uk