Today I visited the small brewery in Sale called the Brewhouse 69. It is a great venue for a party or large group get together. They do meals and have space for several functions at once, they even have a free to use pool table, table tennis and sit down video games. They have three of their own beers on tap, but they are all aimed at the average, mainstream beer drinkers. This is because of a lack of support from the local drinkers for anything out of the ordinary. The beers that I sampled were:
1. 69 Summer Lager, 3.4% abv, this is a straw coloured lager that has a very mild taste and is aimed squarely at the light beer drinker and, if you were that way inclined, would be quite sessionable on a hot day.
2. 69 Draught, 4.2% abv, this straw coloured beer has a subtle citrus floral aroma. Although it has more taste than the Lager it is still a very mild flavoured beer with a crisp dry finish. It should suit the average CUB drinkers well.
3. 69 Pale Ale, 4.5% abv, this is an Australian style Pale Ale that has a golden colour and a floral and tropical fruit aroma. It is quite well balanced with a subtle malt taste followed by a hop bitterness. It is very easy drinking.
The venue is great and the beers are all quite true to style, however, it is a pity that the local drinkers have such an unimaginative palate that the brewery is limited to producing beers that are clones of the mainstream varieties.