04/08/2010. GREAT BRITISH BEER FESTIVAL, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, LONDON, SW5, England

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Cask at The Berkeley Arms, Tewkesbury. Pours amber brown with an off-white cap. Aroma: Malt, toffee, bread, rum & raisin. Taste: light to moderate sweet & bitter, fruitcake, rum barrel hints, dry taste. Medium body with soft carbonation.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Cask-conditioned at the Commercial Rooms (JDW), Bristol 21/11/2022. Mahogany in colour, with a thin, off-white, head. Sweet, brown sugar and tangerine aroma, with some fruitcake notes and rum warmth. Flavour was much of the same, with plenty of sweetness, more berry fruits, and a suggestion of rum, before a moderately bitter finish. Fine.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6.5

Cask at Moon under Water, Wolverhampton – though I have drunk it before. Pours a dark copper with a medium sized foamy off-white head and good lacing. There’s some hints of autumn fruits in the aroma, but not much else. In the mouth there are floral hops and malts with an underlying caramel base. Plus a host of other trace elements – spices, nuts and toffee, Finish is somewhat fruity. This is decent.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

On cask at the Shakespeare, Kendal. Appearance - dark brown with a generous fluffy head. Nose - rum and raisin. Wood and light toffee. Brown bread. Taste - general fruitcake thing going on. Again a dry woody edge. Palate - medium bodied. Dry finish. Overall - good.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5

Half pint, cask at the Queen's Larder. Medium amber, clear, small foamy head. Sweet, malty aroma. Taste starts off sweet, kind of falls flat, then finishes dry. Seems thin.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5

Half-pint, cask ale at Uplands Tavern. Clear dark brown body, spotty lacing from a film-type layer. Rather inviting smell of mid-sweet brown malts, hints of dried fruits. Malt-fruity flavours, caramel and dark fruits. Malt-driven end with a bitter touch. Good bitter version. (Swansea 01.10.2018).

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Cask at the Talbot, Stow on the Wold. Pours dark brown with a small head. Aroma is rum, dried fruits and bread. Taste has bready dried fruits and a little coffee.

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Cask at St James Tavern, Winchester. Low key stewed fruit aroma. Chestnut. A few mm of a bubbly off-white head. Light bitter. Malty. Underlying caramel sweetness. Thin. Light. Soft carbonation. Long finish. Not sure the rum really makes its presence known. OK.