A recent visit to the Food Matters Live! show at Excel featured a number of excellent seminars but little in the way of interesting new products. The exception was Binary Botanical Ale, a very interesting new beer from the Good Living Brewing Company
Binary drinks like a cross between a wine and a beer. Lightly carbonated it has a delicate and slightly feminine flavour reminiscent of sparkling elderflower and an abv of 4%. It would be great on a hot summer’s evening and it goes well with spicy food. The only comparative beer I can think of is Curious Brew, a lager fermented with champagne yeast.
Binary has a very specific meaning here, referring to the organic Worcester hop leaves added during fermentation and infused over 5 days to produce the signature (binary) flavour.
The name is my only reservation about Binary. I suspect that potential purchasers will be more concerned with whether they will like the taste rather than the technical nuances of production. A beer brand should either establish credibility of origin (Budvar, Peroni) or have sufficient impact to intrigue (Brewdog, Spitfire). For me Binary does neither. A wine/beer hybrid is a very interesting proposition and the branding could reflect that, in the same way that Hovis Best Of Both manages to straddle two categories.
Do not let my reservations put you off – Binary is a brave and innovative product that tastes good and deserves to do well.