Splendour is a very grand name for a beer, and you'd need to make sure it's flawless to start applying those kinds of words; otherwise, you're taking the pith.
Abbeydale's Splendour is a dry-hopped orange-infused pale ale, with El Dorado and Mandarina hops used in the process to create a citrus tang that is very thirst-quenching and perfect for summer drinking.
Mandarina is commonly used to create an orange style pithiness to beer, helping to combat the hop bitterness with some citrus sweetness that makes it much lighter and more drinkable, a dangerous beer to have lots of in the sunshine.
To add to the Mandarina hops addition of orange, Abbeydale has also thrown in generous amounts of fresh oranges along with orange peel to make sure there's enough of a citrus punch to make it truly splendid.
There's a hop-forward aroma to this when the can is popped with a citrus tang to it but it's not obviously orange at first, more of a generic citrus smell.
The pour is light and almost clear, with a pale yellow colour that adds to the lightness of the beer along with the crisp, white head which is quaffable. The flavour is a little bitter at first from the hops, but there's also an orange pithiness to the flavour that isn't quite the orange hit that I expected but does give it a fresher flavour.
The subtle orange flavour does run underneath the bitterness of the hops, providing a slight sweetness to the beer but leaving a bitter aftertaste that's not bad, but it's also not the intense orange flavour I expected.
The can is somewhat ironic is that the beer name is Splendour but there's nothing really splendid about the can art, in a grandiose sense. There's a run-down beach shack in baby blue, with bright sunbeams of light blue and yellow in the background which all adds to a really summery vibe.
The Abbeydale ruin is behind the shack and the scroll with the beer name and style is across the beach the shack sits on, all tieing into the bright, lightness of the pale ale and making it a very visually appealing label.
The information part of the label includes a beer biography explaining the method behind the beer with some key ingredients, along with the usual information on the back of beer cans.
If this whets your whistle or if you fancy getting some more splendour in your life then you can grab a can of this from Beer Shop HQ for the splendid price of £3.80.
