Beer of the Day: Adnams Ghost Ship

Day Two and our Beer of the Day is a hauntingly good one. Award-winning beer writer Adrian Tierney-Jones has chosen Adnams Ghost Ship – and described a great pint of it with one word we particularly like: “pristine.”

Adrian says: “Ghost Ship Pale Ale is actually a pristine pint. It’s a beer that packs great hop character. There’s a really good balance between the malt and the juicy, fruity hoppiness, which makes it the perfect cask beer for Cask Ale Week.” And there’s quite a story behind that pint. Ghost Ship first appeared in 2010 as a Halloween seasonal, inspired by shipwrecks, smugglers and tales of ghostly vessels off the Suffolk coast. Its spiritual home is The Bell at Walberswick, Adnams’ centuries-old pub with a few ghost stories of its own. The brewers then threw a relatively new American hop called Citra into the mix – and created a monster. The first brew went down so well that Ghost Ship returned the following year, when demand was so strong Adnams actually ran out of Citra. By 2012, it was here to stay.

At 4.1%, Ghost Ship brings lemon, lime and elderflower from those hops, a touch of biscuit from the malt and rye spice underneath – bright, juicy, refreshing and with a lovely hoppy finish. What began as a spooky seasonal experiment has become Adnams’ best-selling beer, which suggests this is one Ghost people are very happy to see again. So take Adrian’s advice this Cask Ale Week: hunt down a pristine pint of Ghost Ship, pull up a chair and enjoy it. Preferably in a nice old pub. Whether you choose one that’s haunted is entirely up to you.