Hatherwood Plunged Orange Pale Ale Beer Review

I think this is my last Hatherwood beer review. I'll have to double check next time I go to LIDL, but I think I've made it to the end. So far I've managed to avoid reviewing Plunged Orange Pale Ale, just because it looks like a beer I'll hate, but hey fingers crossed I might be surprised. I have been surprised by Hatherwood once before when it turned out their Winter Special was so good it made my best beers list. Just for the record Hatherwood are basically Wychwood Brewery, but selling exclusively to LIDL under a different name. I really am hoping this tastes better than it sounds, I mean really Plunged Orange?

In fairness the 330ml can looks pretty enough, and it does indeed look like a deep see diver has plunged in to orange, but with only the mask remaining it looks a little like the orange has killed him. You know that experiment you do in school where you put a tooth in Coca-Cola and it disintegrates, well that's what seems to have happed to our intrepid diver in this case. Anyway it's all very orange. There's a pretty hefty 6% alcohol content in Plunged Orange Pale Ale so that may make it an interesting choice if nothing else. 

The beer pours an unsurprising clear orange with a decent head of snow white froth, it doesn't actually look too bad. On the other hand the immediate whiff of orange from the can is very much reminiscent of Orange Tango. Don't get me wrong I don't mind Orange Tango, but it's not as good as Fanta and I wouldn't really want to get drunk on it. This is a seriously smelly beer. So far all my fears about Plunged Orange seem to be coming true. I really do hope you appreciate my efforts to drink stuff I know I probably wont like just so I can warn you all in advance of you trying. This really is a public service.

Anyway Plunged Orange from Hatherwood Brewery gets 2 out of 10, it would be one but I feel I have to give it some credit for doing exactly what it says on the can.The taste is actually almost identical to that first bite you take in to an orange peel. It's bitter, tangy, and generally quite unpleasant. The taste does calm down a little, or rather your taste buds gradually adjust to it, but honestly why does this beer exist? If you want to get drunk on orangeade just use it as a mixer and put some vodka or rum in, there's no need to create a 6% beer for that purpose. I guess there's a market somewhere for this or it wouldn't have been dreamt up in the first place. It probably belongs more in line with alcopops than beers though, maybe somewhere near bottles of Hooch, that's still a thing isn't it?