Reviewed September 2009

The latest bottled offering from Hall & Woodhouse’s Badger brewery is another attempt to pillage the hedgerow.

You have to hand it to them. The Dorset brewers have certainly found a profitable niche with supermarket shoppers who are happy to buy mainstream beers with unusual flavours.

Dandelion is a certified organic ale, laced with ‘dandelion natural flavour’. If you ever enjoyed dandelion and burdock pop when you were a kid, you’re halfway to knowing what this means.

Floral and Sweet

The flavour comes over as floral and sweet. Indeed, there’s a bit of a boiled sweet character to the taste, with a hint of lemon and a gentle spiciness. The most appealing feature is the mellow, moreish, malty swallow that leads to a dry finish that begins bittersweet and turns more bitter, but even that doesn’t really amount to much.

I’m not a huge fan of the flavoured Badger bottled beers. Some, inevitably, work better than others.

The organic nettle beer, Stinger, has its moments, and Golden Champion and Blandford Fly are also quite interesting, but most I find rather artificial and, I would hazard, aimed at people who are not (at least yet) committed to beer.

This new beer is typical of the range. There’s really nothing to dislike, and a lot of people will truly enjoy it, but it’s not my cup of Dandelion tea.