It doesn’t always follow that a strong brand identity equates to a great product or service. In too many cases the style-over-substance cliché is played out.
In the case of Cold Town Beer, an artisan small-batch brewery based in Edinburgh, which launched in 2017, their strong brand identity is more than equalled by the quality of their beers, lagers and IPAs.
Cold Town Beer’s name derives from Edinburgh’s Calton Hill, which was originally called Caltoun, which means Cold Town.
Being based in Edinburgh means that the company is part of the city’s brewing tradition that dates back to the 1500s.
Along with their core range of beers, simply branded ‘Cold Town’, they have an experimental arm that produces beers under the ‘Cold Town Lab’ banner, which are market tested at Cold Town House, the company’s own dedicated bar in central Edinburgh.
As it states on their website, if the new experimental beers aren’t popular they will simply stop making them. But, if they do go down well they will be sold online in cans as a limited edition beer.
The beers produced under the Cold Town Co-Lab range are also limited editions, produced by working with other breweries to create unusual and innovative brews.
We were initially sent a mixed case of 12 beers and a few weeks later we received a branded gift box, which contained two cans of beer, a branded pint glass, a branded black T-shirt, product postcards and ‘The Little Book of Cold Town Beer’.
The attention to detail across their range of merchandise was first rate and this was more that reflected in the quality of the range of beers that we sampled.
We all genuinely enjoyed everything that we were sent and there were no thumbs down, except for when we had sampled all the beers.
The full line-up of beers that we received are summarised below, but from across the full range, these were our stand-out favourites.
From the Lab range, their Citrus Milkshake Pale Ale (4.3% ABV), didn’t sound that appealing, but the confident citrus notes came through, along with the almost creamy texture derived from the apple purée that is added to the malted barley and oats. This is entirely on-trend with the citrus-infused IPAs and although the Lab range beers are limited editions, we hope that this one joins their main line-up.
Cold Town’s New England IPA (5.5% ABV) was our overall favourite and is one of the company’s core beers.
The higher ABV delivers a stronger, fuller flavour that is dominated by the citrus infusions of passionfruit, mango and orange, balanced by the five variety of hops to deliver a very satisfying and easy drinking IPA.
The beer from the Co-Lab range was the Fruited Sour Tango Passion (5.6% ABV), was produced together with Seventy One, a brewery based in Dundee.
The fruits of their labour have produced a fabulous citrus-forward beer, which despite its relatively high ABV, was very easy drinking. The passionfruit delivers a sourness that is balanced by the sweeter blood orange, complemented by the innovative combination of hops, barley, oats and milk.
With the continued demand for citrus-infused IPAs and flavoured beers, which shows no signs of slowing down, the artisan and hand-crafted sector has embraced the public’s thirst for beers that are not only authentic, but genuinely new and different.
From the beers that we have sampled, there’s no doubt that consumers will increasingly warm to Cold Town Beer’s excellent products.
The full list of beers
CORE
New England IPA (5.5%)
Raspberry Berliner Weisse (4.3%)
LAB
Post Modern IPA (6.2%
Citrus Milkshake (4.3%)
Pilsner 50 (5.0%)
Session Pale Ale (4.0%)
Doddie Beir (4.3%)
Topic Thunder (7.0%)
CO-LAB
Cold Town Beer/Seventy One: Fruited Sour Tango Passion (5.6%)
For more information visit their website