Crafty Canary - Whites Ruby 5.4%

Whites Ruby is a 5.4% ruby ale from Crafty Canary, the independent brewery and bottle shop based on the High Street in Cwmavon, in the Afan Valley near Port Talbot. It is the strongest beer in Crafty Canary's core range, sitting alongside Skyline Lager, Penhydd Stout, Y Wal Golden Ale, Blue Scar and Blade IPA as one of the brewery's own house beers.

Crafty Canary brews its own beer on site in Cwmavon while also stocking a wider selection of beers from producers across Wales, functioning as both a working brewery and a bottle shop. The town sits next to Afan Forest Park and the Glyncorrwg Mountain Bike Centre, and Whites Ruby echoes White's Level, a well known red graded trail out of Glyncorrwg made up almost entirely of singletrack and rated as one of the more technically demanding routes in the forest. Its name places it alongside the rest of the Crafty Canary range, several of which are named after the trails that run through the woods around the brewery.

As a ruby ale, Whites Ruby is built around darker specialty malts, giving it the deep amber to reddish brown colour that gives the style its name, generally with a fuller malt character than a standard bitter or golden ale. Expect caramel and toffee notes from the malt bill, a moderate to full body, and a rounded, warming finish, with the 5.4% ABV giving it noticeably more weight and strength than the rest of the Crafty Canary core range. Hop bitterness typically plays a supporting role in this style, balancing the malt sweetness rather than dominating it.

A beer of this strength and malt character suits richer food well, pairing nicely with roast dinners, red meat, or game, where its caramel notes and fuller body can hold their own against heavier dishes. It is also a good match for strong, mature cheeses, and its warming character makes it a sensible choice for cooler weather, served a little above fridge temperature to let the malt flavours show through properly.

As the biggest beer in the Crafty Canary lineup, Whites Ruby is the one to reach for when a lighter lager or golden ale will not quite do. Named after one of the toughest trails on the brewery's doorstep, it is a fitting way to round off Crafty Canary's core range with something more substantial.