Elgood’s Coolship

Elgood’s Brewery

Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, UK

Imported by Artisanal Imports; Austin, TX

The only remaining Georgian brewery in England, run by the Elgood family for generations in the market town of Wisbech. 

ABV: 6.7

ABW: 5.33

COLOR: 13.2

BITTERNESS: NA

ORIGINAL GRAVITY: 1060

AVAILABLE: UK; Draft only in IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, NC, NE, NJ, NY, ON, PA, TN, WA, WI

The brewery has two open copper cooling trays, or “coolships,” vessels used by lambic brewers in Belgium, just over the English Channel. Head brewer Alan Pateman accepted the challenge to brew his own beer using wild fermentation. It’s brewed with malted barley and unmalted wheat and hopped with Styrian Goldings. The first batch, brewed in April 2013 and matured in French wine casks, has an acidic, oak and vanilla aroma with the famous “horse blanket” character that comes from wild yeast. The palate is tart and tangy with creamy malt, oak and vanilla. The long finish is sour, tart, with continuing notes of oak and vanilla.
- Roger Protz

Redundant old coolships at the top of Elgood’s Georgian brewery have been dusted off and brought back into use for this authentic take on the lambic style. The aroma is immediately addictive, suggestions of sherry and caramel leading on to an initially bittersweet but then instantly acetic taste that is bitingly sour. Floral notes, sultana fruitiness and an oaky, drying backnote add to the complexity before a dry, acidic, fruity finish that leaves the palate tingling. To me, it drinks more like a Flanders Red, with funky notes few and far between, but it’s none the worse for that.
- Jeff Evans

Roger Protz
Author of 300 Beers to Try Before You Die and 300 More Beers to Try Before You Die. Respected beer authority and editor of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and www.protzonbeer.co.uk.

Jeff Evans
Jeff Evans is author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide, The Book of Beer Knowledge and Beer Lover’s Britain. More of his writing can be found at www.insidebeer.com.