# 2924; 5/2022. Malty, herbal, slightly mouldy aroma. Clear gold body, persistant lacing white head. Malty, herbal, slightly fruity. Good bitter. Pint, hand-pulled, pub, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England.

Bottle bought at the Batemans brewery, Wainfleet, Lincolnshire. Golden brown colour, rather carbonated, creating a fairly large white head. Hoppy aroma, with sweet caramel malt. A little bitter in its finish. OK, but not that interesting.

Ale with a clean healthy bitterness that dominates through taste and texture.

500ml bottle. Pours dark amber with a medium frothy head. Aroma is caramel and boiled sweets malt. Taste is sweet and bready to start. Caramel and fruity hops in the finish.

Brown 500ml bottle, brewed to celebrate St George’s Day (23rd April), drank and reviewed on 14th May 2011, 12 months before it’s BBD. Poured into an ’Old Speckled Hen’ pint vase. It was a lovely amber colour with a good thick head of off-white bubbles on top. The head showed good retension and left some heavy lacing as it followed the beer down the glass. I prefer my beers to have slightly more malts than hops in their blend, this fitted the bill exactly. Rich (non-sweet) malts hit the nose and carried on into the taste flavours. Full bodied and smooth, the 4.1% ABV belies it’s strength and depth of substance. I’ve been critical of Batemans and their trend of brewing so many ’seasonal’ beers in the past, but this is really good and I’ll be looking out for this one from now on.

Light copper brown colour. Aroma has some slightly roasted malts and a bit of caramel. Easy to drink bitter which is more on the malty than hoppy side and has a slightly floral aftertaste.

50cl bottle from Aldi. Pale amber with a ring of white head and light carbonation; earthy malt aroma; earthy malt flavour, perhaps a little stale, with some caramel; and then peppery hops to finish. Not very exciting.