CRAFT BEER REVIEW: Just one Cornet(to), give it to me... as long as it's a beer

TRADING beer is now "a thing" and I regularly swop doubles of beers I've picked up, with friends in the Midlands Beer Club. The reason I pick up two is simple. If I like it, then I probably want another one for soon after and if I'm not too fussed or I just want others to get to try it, I usually let someone else have it. No cash ever changes hands in beer trading, it's just a bunch of like minded people who want to try the latest beers on offer who also pick up extras.

With that in mind, this week's beer came from a friend of mine up in Kilkeel, Co Down, hence my name on the can. In exchange he received quite a lot of homebrewed beer from the Midlands Beer Club second annual Advent beer swop that I hosted outside of my house a few days ago.

A total of 26 homebrewers dropped off their beers in a very well organised and safely executed exchange of homebrew.

In recent times, the club has had to reinvent the way we meet up and by swooping our beers this way, the club gets to enjoy a brief meet-up while enjoying each others brews from the comfort and safety of our own homes.

This week's beer for review is from The Beer Hut brewing company. Raspberry Cornet is a raspberry puree infused double ipa at 8% abv and pours an antique gold shade with a thick plume of frothy head atop.

All well made ipas should have great head retention and this one is backed up by the addition of oats to keep the body thick. The aroma gives the perfume of raspberries without too much sweetness. The flavour is approximately nine parts raspberry and one part malty beer. So if you enjoy raspberries then you'll love this beer. The abv is hidden well, perhaps too well and the bitterness is low. A playful beer and one that I'd certainly share a can of myself.

Brendan Sewell pens a weekly craft beer review for the Tullamore Tribune and Midland Tribune.  A Tullamore-based chef, he is an award winning homebrewer, founder member of the Midlands Beer Club and creator of the YouTube channel Views on Brews.