LET ME TELL YOU ‘BOUT PHAEDRA SALFORD’S PRIZE PALE ALE - PHAEDRA BEER REVIEW

October 11, 2023 Cameron Mackenzie

Pomona Island’s Phaedra is their flagship pale ale, currently populating the bar beer fridges of Manchester, and in the brewery’s own words a beer that ‘bears repeating, time and time again’. After tasting Phaedra, most beer drinkers would surely be inclined to agree - it is pretty much the perfect session pale.

Pomona Island have been brewing in Salford since 2017, producing everything from entry-level helles lagers and pilsners, IPAs, pale ales, to boundary-pushing goses, stouts and porters. Not only is the range extensive and the quality guaranteed, PI also seem to be able to pump out countless new and innovative brews in a flash. A visit to their webshop illuminates full extent - they’ve even recently branched out their brewing expertise into barley wine.

The minimal, yet intricate design of the Phaedra can, with its hazy lemon block colour and dragonfly illustration is classic for Pomona Island. Placing a few of their cans side by side is as pleasing as a Pantone colour palette - visual merchandising really does itself here. Each brew’s can boasts an individual block colour tone, an individual illustration by the talented @meicodesigns, and a wacky name, all fitting the general vibe of the beer. In this case, the name Phaedra is a nod to the protagonist of the hazily cool track Some Velvet Morning by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood. This is one PI’s more tame beer names - while some are similarly music related, others almost provide social commentary, being long enough to approach the feeling of a haiku, or a lyric out of a Smiths song. Some of the best and most irreverent are listed below.

‘Dress sexy at my funeral’
‘Lose more than you found’
‘Bushy bushy blonde hairdo’
‘Nobody trusts anybody now, and we’re all very tired’
‘When people wore pyjamas and lived life slow’
‘Such intense dance vibes’
‘The boy with the filthy laugh’

When poured into a glass, Phaedra’s appearance is hazy and peachy-yellow with a minimal head. Taking a sip, as with many pale ales, juicy is definitely the keyword: the palate is smacked with pithy pink grapefruit, as well as bright yellow citrus and tropical fruit. The nose is sharp and sweet, and again, punchy with citrus. At 5.4% ABV, this beer feels balanced and highly quaffable. It drinks like your first beer on a sunny day, before later degeneration into blander and worse quality booze. It is easy to see the connection between the vibe of the hazy Phaedra and the late-1960s tune.

Today, Phaedra - amongst other PI goodies - is stocked by some of Manchester’s trendiest: The Epicurean craft beer shops, The Gas Lamp, Juicebox, Cork of the North, and Jack in the Box at Mackie Mayor make up a few. Phaedra, in its approachability and easygoing light-bodied fruitiness, is a regular in stock rotations.

Escape to Freight Island was Pomona Island’s old home in the city centre, stocking their cans and draught beer, however the brewery began a new venture this year - ‘North Westward Ho.’ This will be a bar and taproom dedicated to PI’s own brews, currently being lovingly pieced together at a site on Pall Mall. The moniker is a nod to a 1970s floating ‘ship pub’ of the same name, which was then moored at the Pomona docks, this tribute being part of the new bar’s general focus on blossoming into a ‘proper boozer’, yet with a modern and ‘inclusive’ twist.

Phaedra, overall, is a sterling example of contemporary Northern craft brewing. This beer, like its namesake femme fatale song character, certainly does pack a punch, and is devilishly appealing.

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