48 crafty cans of Flavourly

At the beginning of March, I ordered myself a mixed case of 48 cans of “craft beer” from Flavourly. The case was duly despatched, but the courier service were unable to deliver, as no-one was at home. The fact that DPD had chosen the only day of the week when Mrs PBT’s  works away from home to drop my package off , was just sod’s law, but they did re-direct it to a local shop, from where I could collect it.

I turned up at the designated collection point – a Londis operated retailer in Tonbridge High Street. Fortunately, I was able to park reasonably close by, as 48 x 330ml cans are quite heavy – so much so that the shop manager asked if it was a case of bricks I was collecting?

After struggling back to the car, I managed to get my mixed case of beers safely home. I was now the proud owner of four dozen cans of craft beer, but what were they? Well, I’ve worked out that there are 22 different brews, which suggests that whilst there are two cans of most of the beers, there must be three of a couple of them.

Before going any further, it’s worth taking a closer look at Flavourly. The first thing to note is that unlike certain other online beer retailers, Flavourly are not a subscription service. This means there is nothing to sign up to, and you can just order, as and when you please. Having said that, they do tend to pester you a bit with emails, highlighting their latest offers, but with no obligation to buy, you can just delete these messages.

Flavourly tend to work with certain breweries, such as Quantock, First Chop, Freedom, By the Horns, Hilden and Beatnikz Republic, to name a few. As well as showcasing beers from these, and other, breweries, they sometimes commission “one-off” collaboration brews with certain of these companies. This provides a certain volume for the breweries concerned, and there is the bonus of a firm commitment from Flavourly to take the entire batch. The beers that the company sell are packaged solely in the 330ml can format, which helps streamline their mail order despatch, business model.

My motives in buying this rather large case were mixed but were underscores by a desire to have a selection if different beers at home, to choose from. I’m not sure whether this has actually worked, as some of the beers have, quite frankly, been disappointing. You could argue that with such a large selection to choose from, there are bound to be a few duds, and you would be right in thinking this.

However, at the other end of the spectrum you might expect here to be a few stunners, and quite frankly there aren’t any. Fortunately, there are some very good ones, and these include Freedom Brewery - Urban Lager, West Berkshire Brewery – Detour Pale Ale, Renegade Lager, By the Horns – Levitate Pale

Ale. Worthy of special mention are veteran Northern Ireland brewers Hilden Brewing, whose Spectrum Pale Ale came extremely close to being a stunner, and First Choice, whose collaboration brews, with Flavourly, included a very drinkable West Coast Session IPA, plus that rarest of beers, a Vienna Lager.

It would be churlish for me to name and shame the dud brews, and also un-becoming for a member of the British Guild of Beer Writers, but why would any self-respecting brewer decide to add orange juice concentrate to a beer? Surely, it is beer that is supposed to be brewed, rather than a “beer cocktail?”

At the end of the day, you win some, you lose others, and on the plus side I’ve had the chance to enjoy some interesting beers. The flip side is the continual search for the new and the original does, at times, invoke a deep-seated sense of longing for the comfort and sense of security that goes with the familiar. In which case, make mine a pint of Harvey’s Sussex Best!