Blind Tiger – Peterborough

I have been looking forward to visiting Blind Tiger for nearly a year now. Often, when I speak with someone about craft beer in Peterborough this is the first place they mention, so it’s reputation speaks for itself.

I can see why too. It’s hard to compete with 26 taps and a 100 cans and bottles. They do open mic nights, live sport events, and tap takeovers. There is even an old retro gaming machine with ‘Street Fighter 2’ available to play for free. This is a bar that has it all!

There isn’t much in the way of food but there was a mention of award winning pastries and spring rolls. Personally, I feel that this is a sensible choice for Blind Tiger, as it is located in the heart of the city where there are lots of great places to eat. Putting their focus on the beer is going to pay off rather than having to compete but there is still something to nibble on, if required.

Blind Tiger is uniquely decorated in a style that I  could not quite put my finger on. If I had to sum it up into a term it would be ‘corporate Shoreditch’ or ‘quirky urban’. All the seats were made from what looks like scaffolding polls and there is even a charming swing seat which is a nice touch. I absolutely loved the graffiti artwork inside which really brightened up the place – massive credit to the artist Mr Meana Street Art! Either way, the interior had great aesthetics and a relaxed atmosphere with something interesting everywhere you turned.

The bar looks fantastic. There were so many taps that they needed a TV screen above to show off the beer menu. That week, Blind Tiger had just done a tap takeover event with ‘Three Hills’, a local(ish) brewery based in Northamptonshire, so there were quite a few of their beers available.

I decided to go for a flight of ‘Three Hills’ to get into the spirit of things, which consisted of the following…

• Three Hills – Heidrun (4.8%) – IPA Session.

• Three Hills – In Pursuit (Spring Edition) (6%) – IPA New England

• Three Hills – Heidrun Export 2023 (6%)

• Little Rain Clearest Blue (6.8%) – IPA sour

The ‘Hills In Pursuit (Spring edition)’ was the clear stand out for me. It managed to pull off the trick of tasting like a bold 7-8% while only being 6%. The passionfruit notes really made this a refreshing drink, as well as having a lot of character in its own right.

The Heidrun Export 2023 was also another winner. This was more sour than the others.

Maybe I was spoiled by the sheer quality of sours at Pastore in Waterbeach the other week but I couldn’t help but feel like Little Rain Clearest Blue was quite weak and anemic, especially at 6.8%. They can’t all be winners, I suppose!

It wouldn’t be a visit without seeing what they had in their can selection. Luckily, I had my brother in law with me who has an encyclopedia knowledge of these kinds of things. He decided to pick this absolute belter of a beer, the ‘Eternal Shedder’ by ‘The Veil Brewing’ (8.5%). This is a DIPA upgrade on their regular IPA ‘the Master Shredder’ that has gone through a triple dry-hopped treatment.

This intensely hoppy beer was less sweet than I was expecting but it had such an intense depth of flavour. At this point the note taking had gone out of the window but it is said to have notes of tangerine, grapefruit, and orange peel. A truly remarkable example of what craft beer can be.

After schooling my son on ‘Street Fighter 2’ with my abusive use of E Honda’s ‘100 man slap’ we decided to head off to our next stop on our Peterborough craft beer tour. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at Blind Tiger and can see why people talk about it in such high regard. They have really made it a fresh and exciting place with a very strong and unique identity not seen anywhere else in the city. Their beers selection is unparalleled anywhere else in Cambridgeshire which makes this one of the best places to visit for the ever hard to satisfy beer geek!

Blind Tiger even has their own Facebook community, make sure to check them out here.

Thanks for reading!