Anchor Springs Rip Tide

Rip Tide is by far and away the best-selling beer from the Littlehampton-based brewery, Anchor Springs. Customers at the nearby brewery tap, The Crown, cannot seem to get enough of it and brewer Frank McCabe is hard-pressed to keep up with the demand. And the beer’s appeal is not only to immediately local tastes. This was the second beer to sell out at the Crawley Beer Festival on 25th June. Responding to the SOS call for replenishments Frank kindly went to the brewery at 8.00 on that Saturday night and prepared two tubs each of Rip Tide, IPA and L. A. Gold (two of the other Anchor Springs beers) for collection.

The simple secret of Rip Tide’s appeal is that is it so damn-drinkable. One pint is nowhere near enough as I can personally testify. This copper-coloured beer is brewed with pale, crystal, amber and chocolate malts. It has an OG (original gravity) of 1045° brought down to 4.1% ABV (alcohol by volume) to lock in the complex flavours. East Kent Goldings is used as the bittering hop with Cascade, then Fuggles at the end. The beer has a malty caramel nose with a slight hint of liqueur. The first taste is sweet and lightly hopped, with distinct milk chocolate notes, well balanced by flavours of fruit cake and burnt caramel, leading to a lingering bitter finish.

Anchor Springs: a range of quality premium beers to suit different palates for the discerning drinker.