At the beloved Star we are lucky enough to have St Austell beers now and again that one doesn’t tend to find generally in the brewer’s own pubs. This week there were two such delights on at the same time. Admirals Ale (5%) is rarely seen in a cask at all, let alone within the St Austell estate, and is a bronze, flvoursome and satisfying treat. With Cornish Gold malt balanced with Styrian Goldings and Cascade hops, this is a deceptively drinkable strong beer.

However, I want to talk about the Black Prince. What was served was a very nice, smooth, dark ruby red beer, very moreish, but what it wasn’t, in the collective opinion of those at the bar, was Black Prince. It wasn’t , well, black (yes, I know it never was ‘blackas yer ‘at, but it was much darker, with a rugy red edge when held up against the light in the way that us beer folk do), and you’d be hard pushed to say it was a mild. Now, I know it isn’t branded as a mild, and this may be the get-out clause if this is, indeed, a new incarnation of the beer. But it was developed originally as a slightly stronger version (from 3.6 to 4%) of St Austell’s old 4X Mild, rebranded on the premises that it would sell better without the baggage of that old-fashioned ‘mild’ monicker.

Black Prince has always been one of Cornwall Campaign for Real Ale’s favourite St Austell beers, and there has been a long-standing campaign to get it made available in more of the brewery’s pubs, to little avail. Perhaps a change of recipe heralds a new marketing push, but for all the good qualities of this new beer, I’d rather see the proper Black Prince ride again.