Cask @ Vaults, Shrewsbury [050417] 6/3/7/3/13 3.2
Nose of soft toffee caramel malts, taste of brown caramel, dab of toffee, creamy malts, dab of chocolate, nice malts in this. Finish has a soft toffee linger. Nice simple malty beer.

Cask @ Marlborough Arms, Chester [280115] 6/3/6/3/13 3.1
Caramel brown, dense white head, clear, some lacing
Aroma of soft caramel, soft dark honey
Taste of soft sweet malts, little hops, dark honey and sugars, touch of soft fruits, mainly nice sweet malts, simple
Palate - Medium body, soft texture, smooth. Finish as main flavour.
Overall - Malty beer, bit warm here though

Cask @ The Salopian, Shrewsbury. Dark, chewy, roasted malts and an earthy bitterness. Quite tasty.

From June 2008: The 4th and 5th bottles in my Shropshire Beer Reviewing Evening. Two 500ml brown (bottle conditioned) bottles, both best before Feb 2009, drank Jun 2008. One poured into an ’Old Speckled Hen’ vase type pint glass. It might have been too cold because it wasn’t anywhere as good as the other beers i’ve had from this brewery. The second bottle (garage temp) was poured into a Hoegaarden Grand Cru stemmed tulip glass. A good red, teak wood colour, but no head at all on the cold beer, just a weak wisp of cloud sat in the middle of the top. The room (garage) temp beer held a small off-white head for a short amount of time. The aroma was poor at first, but as the beers warmed they gave off esters of hops and barley malts. A trained nose may have picked up fruity smells, but I didn’t. Heavy and almost rich in mouthfeel, the warmer beer was more flavoursome and easier to drink. There was a hided depth to the beer, the warmer, the deeper it became. It is incredible how the same beer can be so different. I know they were the same brew batch, I picked them up from the brewery myself and was asked not to open the bottles for a couple of weeks because they were so young. I’ve waited 3 months, to be frankly almost disappointed. This beer was going to be the crowning glory of my tasting evening. I opened two bottles because the first might have been too cold and to make sure I wasn’t doing the brewery an injustice. Sadly it was an anti-climax, what a shame. Only last Saturday I visited the brewery again (with CAMRA). It was a lovely day out and they treated us very well. The beers they put on were super, I bet this beer on cask is good too!

Dark oak coloured and crisp. Good texture, dry but feels nice in the palate.