Rutland Panther

Clear brilliant dark reddish brown colour, dissipating white head. Malty aroma, lots of caramel. Sweet malty flavour, caramel. Quite thin. Finish caramel.
(from 50cL bottle @ home)

Clear, dark ruby beer with a reasonable, bubbly beige head. Aroma is of fruit and chocolate and the flavour has some of that as well though it’s tempered by some lighter, tangy fruit flavours (some apple in there, maybe, as well as a touch of citrus) to balance it out. You could very easily session this at that strength as it’s really quite tasty.

Dark mild from Rutland in England, from a very English 50 cl bottle bought online; apparently has something to do with a black panther, an animal I would not immediately associate with this docile style of beer. Irregular, pale greyish white, loose, milky head over a very dark ruby brown beer, clear. Aroma of autumn leaves, caramelized vegetables, freshly baked brown bread, candied figs, freshly plowed earth, chicory, diluted coffee, hazelnuts, toasted bread, perhaps a hint of iron, dried plums, grass, old cookies. Litterally ’mild’ taste as expected from the style, subdued ’dried’ fruitiness, sourish touch with a slightly drying effect, soft carbonation; thinnish body, a tad metallic, which is kind of compensated with a good deal of nutty and caramelly maltiness, becoming more roastedly bitterish in the end, like the ’surrogate’ coffee made of chicory my grandmother used to consume since the last World War, smooth, with a spicy touch and a finish of lingering nutty and eventually even chocolatey malts countered by leafy and earthy, even somewhat peppery hop bitterishness with medium duration. A bit maltier and hoppier than expected from this particular style, but still very traditionally English and in that sense a good representation of it. Pours down easily, nothing offending here, and the roasted bitter touch and leafy hops do sting a bit in the end, making this all the more interesting. In all: a nice and enjoyable example of an otherwise ’simple’ and not very ambitious beer style. Have a point for that.

New English county, Rutland (44/46):
Appearance: Dark brown, clear. Some light tan head.
Aroma: Dark malt, slightly roasted. Molasses.
Taste: Dark malt, tar, roasted. Some sweetness. Good balance.
Bought: Beers of Europe, 500 ml, £1.95
Info: 16/1-2015, 67/300M, BB: 31/7-2015

Bottle @ home. Brown colour with a small off-white head. Smells sweet, malts, sugar. Tastes sugary, sweet, malts, hay, weird, liquorice. Thin body, soft to medium carbo.

Bottle shared with Dutchdrebus @ Dutchdrebus’ birthday. Dark brown color with a deep dark red glare coming through. Average sized light brown head that leaves fair to good lacing. Aroma is malts, lightly roast. Taste malts, lightly roast, lightly a hint of dark fruit and chocolate, lightly bitter. Decent body and carbonation. Quite nice.

Opaque redbrown colour, small frothy tan head, recedes quite quickly to a thin layer, light lacing. Aroma is roasted malts, brown sugar, liquorice, coffee, earthy. Flavour medium sweet, mild bitter notes, impressions of cold coffee and thin chocomel. Lght bodied, mouthfeel light but not watery. Finish with more mild bitterness. Nice beer, my first mild ale ever, I like the style.

Bottle from Beers Of Europe. Poured a clear dark brown with a frothy off white head and some broken lace. The aroma a little roast, caramel and yeast. The flavour is medium bitter with a watery smoke hop palate. Medium bodied with average carbonation. One of the nicest milds I’ve had!