Tiny Rebel Renegade Master Hazy American Pale Ale. If you are a UK beer fan, you will probably have tried one brewed by Tiny Rebel. Probably best known for their Rebel Session and CLWB Tropica IPAs, the company produces flavour-packed beers with great names and eye-catching, bold labels and designs. From a start brewing in a garage in Newport, Wales, the company’s beers can be bought in forty countries around the world and are exported as far as Australia and Japan.

From ‘There will be Blood Orange IPA’ to ‘Stay Puft’, a salted caramel marshmallow porter that may or may not have been inspired by a character in a well-known movie franchise about ghosts. With flavours ranging from fruit laden IPA’s and juicy American Pale ales to doughnut-flavoured collaborations, Tiny Rebel continue to innovate and produce award-winning beers. Today’s post is no exception: a new style on my website, a hazy American-style Pale Ale.

A bit about Tiny Rebel Brewery

Tiny Rebel started in 2012 by brother-in-laws Bradley Cummings as and Gareth Williams, both engineers, as a hobby. Making the jump to full-time brewers, they rented a unit on an industrial estate. This was followed by opening the first dedicated craft beer bar in Cardiff in 2013. In 2015 Tiny Rebel became the first Welsh brewery to win CAMRA’s prestigious Champion Beer of Britain, with Cwtch, a Welsh red ale, with caramel malt flavours balanced with a bitter orange marmalade hoppiness.

In 2017, they completed a £2.6 million, custom-designed brewery and taproom capable of producing well over eight million pints a year and by their own admission have brewed so many different beers they have lost count of the actual number. More investment followed, including a 2,800 m²  distribution centre, and today Tiny Rebel is the largest brewery in Wales. To this day, Tiny Rebel holds true to their fun, slightly edgy image signified by ‘Tiny’, the hoodie-wearing punk teddy.

Tasting Tiny Rebel Renegade Master Hazy American Pale Ale

I have to admit to wavering on how much I like fruit-laden beers. I went through a stage of drinking a lot of hazy, New England-style IPAs. Packed with fruity hop flavours from citrus to tropical stone fruit, they are refreshing on a hot summer’s day with a smooth, easy-to-drink profile. But if I’m honest, it can be hard to distinguish them, and they often pack a substantial alcohol level. Cloudy American Pale Ales can have less of the citrus flavours and more papaya, ripe apricot, mango and passionfruit notes. The beers are unfiltered, and proteins from an additional mix of oats and corn cause the haze and add a soft, smooth mouthfeel.

Renegade Master is a classic example of a hazy American Pale Ale, nothing like the English style. At 4.3% ABV, Renegade Master is not too strong and quaffable on a lovely sunny afternoon. A deep straw colour when poured, what first grabs you are the lovely tropical aromas. The creamy mouthfeel makes this such an easy drink. You can almost forget you are having an alcoholic beverage and not some sort of smoothie; there is a pleasant level of malty sweetness with just enough bitterness to balance in the finish. All in all, a very quaffable pint and I would definitely have another.

Draught Tiny Rebel Renegade Master Summary