Vocation Golden Ale (collaboration with Fierce)

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.

The River Ale House, East Greenwich, Greater London

Who	Score	When	Notes
Philip Pirrip	Not Tried	18 Feb 2026
Philip Pirrip	Not Tried	17 Feb 2026
Hogan Sampling	Not Tried	17 Feb 2026
Philip Pirrip	Not Tried	02 Feb 2026
Philip Pirrip		01 Feb 2026	Apparently honeyed but I did not pick that up. Good condition
Hogan Sampling		01 Feb 2026	Fresh on today and presenting a good frothy head and lacing sticking to the glass to the very end on this collaboration between Vocation from Cragg Vale, Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire, and Fierce Beer based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They have a history of working together on diverse styles. A lightly fruited first hit. A good dose of hoppiness rising from traditional British hops, likely to be East Kent Goldings or Fuggles, with dry floral notes winning over. The hint of a certain bear's favourite spread in sandwiches ambling up and also aided by modern hop varieties to achieve a sweet orange flavouring. A touch of maltiness to give this golden ale its colouring and likely to be from Maris Otter or Extra Pale Malt. A honey-infused hoppiness padding out and where a natural honey, Wildflower, was actually added to complement the floral notes of its English hops during the brewing at either the end of the boil, "flameout," or during "whirlpool" which is the term for a post-boil process where the wort (unfermented beer) is rapidly swirled in a circular motion, either by a high-velocity pump or by vigorous stirring with a paddle in homebrewing. Very moreish was this collaboration golden ale and so then stuck to it.