The Caskaway

Classic Pints – Sharp’s Doom Bar. I was not sure what constitutes a classic pint when I started trying to work out a way to archive my notes. Most of them are beers I have drank on and off all my adult life. So very specifically the list would be my classic pints. Some have long since disappeared sadly, but quite a few are still available, some brewed in different places or by other breweries and some have become incredibly popular like Sharps Doom Bar.

I first tried Doom Bar when I worked in Cornwall over twenty years ago. It was a great pint to end a busy shift after long summer nights in a hot kitchen. Sat on the granite pub wall looking over the beach, in the rapidly cooling evening air, it’s etched in my memory. Doom Bar was first brewed at Sharp’s Brewery in Rock . Created by the eponymous brewery founder Bill Sharp in 1994, it was originally made by blending two of his existing brews.

A little Sharp’s Doom Bar History

It’s named after a dangerous sandbank at the mouth of the estuary of the river Camel situated between Rock and Padstow. In 2022 it was the UK’s bestselling cask ale with revenues of just over one hundred million pounds, not a bad return on the twenty million pounds brewing giant Molson Coors paid for the brewery back in 2011. Second place went to recently reviewed Timothy Taylor’s Landlord.

Local-born head brewer Aaron McClure heads a team of thirty-five at the brewery where Doom Bar accounts for eighty-five per cent of the output. In total, the brewery produces fourteen beers including Atlantic Pale Ale, Offshore Pilsner, and collaborations with local chefs Rick Stein and Paul Ainsworth. In addition, owners Molson Coors invested in a small pilot plant where new beers are developed for one-off specials, experimenting with new techniques, styles, and flavours. 

Despite the massive increase in sales over the last twenty years, not everything has gone smoothly. Molson Coors moved some production of Sharp’s beers, including bottled Doom Bar to its Burton-upon-Trent headquarters, formally the flagship Bass brewery. This did not fit in well with a company promoting its Cornish heritage as a large part of its appeal.

For what it is worth, I think Doom Bar is a victim of its undoubted success. Beer drinkers can be terribly snobbish and don’t always like the idea of large-scale brewery produced beers. Yet for publicans, one of Doom Bar’s key strengths is the consistency of the beer, so customers know what they are going to drink.

Do I like Doom Bar? It’s brewed to be an inoffensive with mass market appeal. That and the fact it is made by a multinational brewing company upsets many beer purists. In all honesty there are lots of better beers, but it is often the only option. Is a relatively ordinary cask beer better than no cask beer at all? Personally, I think so. Is it as good as it used to be? I’ve drunk a lot of beers since my days in Cornwall so it’s hard to say. But for me it is a better option then many keg beers and lagers.

Tasting Sharp’s Doom Bar

Do I drink Doom Bar? Hand on heart it is not my first choice if there are other cask ales available. Doom Bar is brewed to appeal to the widest possible tastes but that certainly doesn’t mean it’s not a good beer. It’s maybe just too subtle to be a great one. The pour on draught is a nice amber colour, with a creamy head, but not too tight. It has a pleasant biscuity aroma with a hint of zesty hops. Doom Bar has a relatively light body and due to a very light amount of yeast in the cask it is not heavily carbonated.

It is very easy to drink with a light malty finish and a hint of refreshing citrus. It is not overly bitter, and a tad fruity. Because of Doom Bar subtlety it will partner with a lot of food from fish and chips to a sticky toffee pudding. So much so the brewery even released its own cookery book with a host of well-known Cornish chefs including recipes for mussels, Yorkshire puddings and bread all made with Doom Bar beer.

Draft Sharp’s Doom Bar