The King's English IPA
Greene King in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England 🏴
IPA Regular|
Score
6.10
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Having traveled over time and tides (Hither! Yon!), the recipe inside this bottle is classic - historic, even. The constancy of the brewer, stalwart - historic, even. (Green, not green). What once conveyed far-flung journeys to an empire’s edge now signals the return home... and a recipe that launched thousands of ships of ale; highly hopped with a perfect malt balance.
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6.2/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6
Bottle. From Trader Joe’s. Actually a lot better than I thought it would be. Dark gold color, giant head. Aroma was a mild hoppy smell and the taste was citrusy and piney.
Tried
from Bottle
on 21 Mar 2025
at 05:13
5.4/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
Old rating found in notes. Half liter bottle from Trader Joe’s Charlottesville, opened 10/23/14. Pours a clear copper color with a thin foamy tan head. Decent head retention. Aroma of strong banana notes, caramel, toasted malts, floral notes. The taste is caramel malt, banana, tea, floral hops. Thin bodied. Meh.
Tried
from Bottle
on 13 Dec 2017
at 20:09
6.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 6
500 ml bottle. Clearly a "special export" for Trader Joe’s. I got this for 99 cents. And if I read the date code right, it’ because this is from 2014. With that in mind: Pours a deep copper color, under a brownish head. Nice looking, as a start. There is a bit of phenol in the nose from older malts, and the mild earthy notes of English hops. Taste has toasty caramel malts to it. Rich texture makes the malts stay to the front. Hops basically keep it from getting too sweet, any bitterness has mostly faded out. Still, not too bad, maybe closer to a Brown Ale. Bottom of the bottle is clean, indicating filtering or pasteurization, which may have cut down on the hops’ longevity.
Tried
from Bottle
on 06 Dec 2015
at 13:25
6.2/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 5
Pours clear dark copper color with off white head. Musty caramel aroma with some biscuit malt. Slightly sweet caramel and toffee flavors with some grass, dough, and mustiness. Medium body with moderate carbonation.
Tried
on 18 May 2015
at 22:19
6.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Clean copper with an off-white head. Earthy hop, caramel malts, slightly rustic aroma. Flavor is caramel malts and earthy hops. It has slight fruit notes underneath. Medium bodied. Slightly bitter in the finish. A pretty enjoyable English IPA.
Tried
on 16 May 2015
at 03:20
6.9/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
500ml bottle bought for me by my daughter in a Ralph’s Supermarket at Dana Point Orange County. So here I am in Laguna Niguel drinking it in her dining room. Poured into a large stemmed tulip: rich amber body, clear and clean looking, the head a full blanket of beige foam like bubbles. The nose is caramel and toffee sweet, those malt molasses type aromas carry on into the taste to give a semi-sweet brew with very little hop bitterness or influence. A little too much carbonation for my palate, almost ’gassy’ in fact. Not usually a big fan of Greene King, but this is a fine brew and my sweet tooth really liked it.
Tried
from Bottle
on 09 May 2015
at 18:11
4.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 4
Texture 4
Overall 4
Deep copper and light brown coloured body with a right-sized tan head, about a centimetre and a half tall. Aroma of caramel, malt, earth, nuts, cereal and a tiny bit of light english hops - pretty much what I expected. Medium-bodied; Assertively caramel and malty flavour at first that fades to a pear and apple flavour showing some moderate amount of sweetness and almost no hops at all, not even the light english hops that could come out to play - there is no bitterness at all. Aftertaste shows more of an amber ale than anything resembling a bitter, this is mild and not offensive at all, but it’s just not showing anything worthwhile and especially nothing that is close to an IPA or EPA or anything pale. Overall, not a bad beer per se, but not good nor enjoyable and not worth picking up, even for the cheap price. I sampled this 50 cL bottle purchased from Trader Joe’s in Washington (West End / Foggy Bottom), DC on 24-October-2014 for US$2,49 sampled at home in Washington on 25-February-2015.
Tried
from Bottle
on 26 Feb 2015
at 00:20
5.6/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
Bottle from Trader Joe’s. Copper color. Mild hops and bitter grain, decent palate. This is low on flavor and aroma compared to many American examples but not a bad beer.
Tried
from Bottle
on 01 Feb 2015
at 19:40
6.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle. Bronze beer with a dark cream head. Light malt and citrus aroma. Grapefruit and dark malt flavor with light caramel. Medium bodied. Decent bitterness. Grapefruit and light pine linger with light caramel.
Tried
from Bottle
on 16 Jan 2015
at 17:15
5.2/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5
Bottle from Trader Joe’s. Pours reddish amber with a small off-white head. Smells of cheap lager, leaves, and copper. Tastes of copper, bitter malts, slightly sour leaves, and grass.
Tried
from Bottle
on 16 Jan 2015
at 07:32