Holiday beer 5: 3 Pub circus pale ale - Mary in the middle

Roll up, roll up, come one and all. Come and see if this fifth and final holiday beer will put hairs on your chest and make you just as hirsute as poor Mary on the label...

Get your tickets here...

SO DID IT PUT HAIRS ON YOUR CHEST?: Not a chance...

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WENT TO A CIRCUS?: Not counting the Tiger Airlines baggage carousel? Probably 2 years ago.

INITIAL THOUGHTS: There's not much going on in the aroma department here. Initially I couldn't smell much but as it warmed up there was a very slight gasp of fruit. Somewhere. Nothing reaching out and trying to break my nose or anything.
Colour is a lovely amber and funnily enough is closer to the red that the Fire Falcon should be.
I'm really not getting much from this beer - nothing is jumping off the page, nothing is really standing out. On the flip side however, since nothing is jumping out it makes this a very drinkable balanced beer - while it doesn't have the instant 'Gimme gimme the next one' appeal of say the Burleigh IPA, you'd be hard pressed to find a reason not to enjoy the remaining five if you came away from the shop with six or more.

WHAT TO EAT IT WITH: Expecting something over the top, I went all out on a home made burger that featured:
2 patties
bacon
cheese
carrot
baby spinach
bbq sauce
fried onion
avocado
Toasted bread

I called it 'One merry mess' and figured that my all over the shop creation would be a fitting tribute to a beer crafted in carnival atmosphere. Oh how I was wrong - my meal was more over the shop than this beer could hope to be..

OVERALL THOUGHTS: The label suggests a circus with an over the top performance or something you don't see every day. However the beer doesn't believe it's own label hype and remains a nice drop that doesn't buck any trend, tips no apple carts and stays well away from any other cliche I can think of that involves doing things differently. It's a plain Jane beer but sometimes after exploring the exotic, it's nice to get back to basics. All in all it's a perfectly drinkable beer, just don't look at the label and expect fireworks.

3 out of 5 circus tickets.

HOW DID YOU RATE YOUR BURGER/SANDWICH MERRY MESS THEN?: Slightly higher but it could have done with some tomato and grilled mushrooms. Oh and some chips on the side.

3.5 out of 5 heart attacks