Fra flaske på DØE festivalen: en fremragende esb, balansert, lettdrikkelig og med herlig ettersmak. Mye bedre enn Old Speckled Hen.

November 2008: I wrote this on BA. It is a sunny yet cold Sunday afternoon in Shropshire and I want a decent pint before my Sunday Lunch. I have choosen this beer from my stash. The clear 500ml bottle was poured into my ’La Chouffe’ tulip glass three times (to catch the aromas and force a good head out of the beer). It had almost a year left of its life, so was fairly fresh when reviewed. The beer poured a deep rich amber and on each occasion had a well formed off-white foaming head. On each pour the head fell away to a thinner covering and some laceing on the glass. Oak aged beers always remind me of coal fires and childhood Christmas’s, the aromas in this one followed the same trend. A warm and comforting smell, a ’Sod the Credit Crunch’, ’Balls to the Recession’ type of richness only the well off can have. This is a boardroom of the rich beer. The taste also brings back memories of sitting round the fire and warmth. A deep malty richness and depth of the body give this beer a really good glow and feel. The 6.5% is well hidden within the brew and even though it is a mix of two beers (Old Speckled Hen and Old 5X), the blender has got it just about perfect. This is the best GK beer I’ve ever had. One small note, ’Old 5X’ isn’t sold, it is a 12% Oak aged (3 years) brew that is blended into other GK beers.