DEYA Best Foot Forward

Tasting Summary

These comments are the opinion of the individual reviewer and represent what they thought of the beer on a particular day in a particular pub. If a review is less favourable, it may be because the beer suffered somewhere in the supply chain between them and the brewery.

Sonder (formerly The Thirty-Nine Steps Brewhouse; The Thirty-Nine Steps Alehouse), Broadstairs, Kent

Who	Score	When	Notes
Hogan Sampling		04 Apr 2026	Good head and lacing and lasting on this rather fruited best bitter from an independent brewery southwest of Gloucester in southwest England, based in Cheltenham, known for its soft, juicy and hop-forward "New England" style beers and set up in 2015*. A hoppy first hit from its hand-selected UK hops, from Brook House Hops in Herefordshire. A tropical fruity bitterness rising with citrus and floral notes. A maltiness winning over from its malted English barley with a biscuity flavouring emanating from its light caramel malts. A dry hoppy but fruited infusion sailing downwards and all ably assisted by its in-house English Ale yeast strain. Served in good form but slightly over-fruited for my taste buddies. *DEYA produces other bitter-style beers such as Golden Boy (5% ABV), hopped with Admiral, Bramling Cross and Challenger hops, and a collaboration with St Mars of the Desert, SMOD, an artisanal microbrewery located in the Attercliffe area of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, and said to be one of the most creative and idiosyncratic breweries in the UK, using a Bavarian decoction mash which is a traditional German brewing method where a portion of the mash is removed, boiled in a separate vessel, and then returned to the main mash to raise the overall temperature.

Beer Merchants Tap, Hackney, Greater London

Who	Score	When	Notes
Stephen Harris		18 Feb 2020	An old-fashioned Bitter full of English hop varieties. A bit like the old Shepherd Neame beers I dimly remember from the 1970s, before they were blanded-down Brewed for this week's Cask Beer Festival in London.