Shepherd Neame Whitstable Bay Ruby Ale Beer Review

I expect you'll have all heard of Shepherd's Neame before, and if not you should have. They are Britain's oldest brewery, and have been brewing away happily for over 300 years so you have to admire their consistency if nothing else. They are based in Faversham in Kent, and really are the grandfathers of the British beer industry. Whitstable Bay is an old fashioned Ruby Ale, none of that fancy craft stuff here, but does it taste as good as its heritage suggests?

Whitstable Bay comes in a pretty hefty 500ml bottle with a pretty picture of what I assume is Whitstable Bay, having never visited I can't really comment on the likeness. I do like a proper traditional ale so I'm quite looking forward to this. My one worry before opening the beer is that it says Rich and Full of flavour on the bottle, which is fine, but it means it has something to live up to. The beer pours a proper traditional bitter looking brown rather than ruby with a nice foamy head. Whitstable Bay certainly has the look of a drink you'd pick up in a proper old boozer.

The beer clocks in with a 4.5% alcohol content which makes it a fairly mild drinkers drink that'll slowly do the job rather than providing a quick knock out punch. Again this very much meets all the hallmarks of a traditional beer. The aroma is actually quite nice with quite clear malty tones and citrus, it actually smells more fruity than I expected, so maybe there's a bit more to this beer than meets the eye.

The taste would probably be best described as nothing to write home about, which is unfortunate when you're trying to write a blog. It's not unpleasant, there's a bit of citrus thrown in there, but it's primarily just malts. I can't help but think maybe Sheperd's Neame are a bit of a victim of their own longevity with this beer. Had this been the first beer I'd ever tasted I'm sure I'd have carried on drinking it, it's well balanced, and it's pleasant, but it's quite dull like your granddads wall paper. 

Because Whitstable Bay comes from a proper traditional Brewer it does all the safe traditional things which have been replicated time and time again making it bland. This is all sounding a little harsh, but it shouldn't, there's nothing wrong with granddads wall paper, there's just nothing exciting about it. If I was in a bar and it was this or a lager I'm having this all day long, but if I'm in a bar with a good selection this beer would just be seen as a safe option, and I want to be at least a little excited by my drink. Shepherd Neame's Whitstable Bay Ruby Ale is a solid, safe, relibable, dependable 6/10 beer.