Old Crafty Hen
(has 2 batches)
Morland in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England 🏴
Strong Ale - English Regular|
Score
6.58
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OLD CRAFTY HEN IS ELEGANCE AND MYSTERY IN ONE. ENJOY THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS, WITH THIS INGENIOUS RARE BLEND OF OLD SPECKLED HEN WITH THE LEGENDARY OLD 5X.
Our Master Brewer has created a premium, vintage oak-aged beer which delivers a variety of sophisticated tastes. The marvellous 5X brings resonance, depth and an eruption of fruity, raisin notes, underscored by the malt and toffee from Old Speckled Hen to create a perfectly smooth and rounded beer. Complex, mysterious… and a question and answer all in one.
Our Master Brewer has created a premium, vintage oak-aged beer which delivers a variety of sophisticated tastes. The marvellous 5X brings resonance, depth and an eruption of fruity, raisin notes, underscored by the malt and toffee from Old Speckled Hen to create a perfectly smooth and rounded beer. Complex, mysterious… and a question and answer all in one.
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6.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Cask hand pull at the crosse keys Jdw. A reddy copper coloured pour with a lasting sticky speckled off white head. Aroma is sweet toffee, brown sugars, liquorice, jammy fruits, burnt toffee. Flavour is composed of medium sweet layered malts, unrefined sugars, burnt toffee and treacle. Some tangy fruit cake vibes. Palate is medium sweet, tangy, warming alcohol. Medium bodied. Lingering harsh. Solvent alcohol, rum.
Tried
from Cask
on 12 Oct 2016
at 14:18
6.8/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle. Morrisons. Clear, dark copper colour. Thin, dense, off white head. Nose has sugary, dried vine fruit. Caramel. Some ripe banana esters. Taste is rich, vinous sweet, quickly turning light, metallic bitter. Smooth enough mouthfeel. Finish errs toward that metallic bitterness. Starts off great, but tails off somewhat.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Aug 2016
at 17:48
8/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
12 ounce bottle into tulip glass, bottled on 7/7/2015. Pours clear reddish copper color with a 1-2 finger dense off white head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings around the glass. Aromas of big caramel, brown sugar, toffee, brown bread, toasted biscuit, nuttiness, oak, light vanilla, raisin, plum, apple, herbal, mint, light pepper, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/bready malt and moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop notes; with great strength. Taste of big caramel, brown sugar, toffee, brown bread, toasted biscuit, nuttiness, oak, light vanilla, raisin, plum, apple, herbal, mint, light pepper, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate herbal/spicy hop and tannic oak bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of caramel, brown sugar, toffee, brown bread, toasted biscuit, nuttiness, oak, raisin, plum, apple, herbal, mint, light pepper, and yeast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Damn nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malt and moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Light-moderate dryness from bitter/tannic notes as well. Medium carbonation and body; with a very smooth, fairly creamy/grainy, and light tannic/sticky balanced mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with minimal warming present after the finish. Overall this is a great English strong ale! All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malt and moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; very smooth and easy to drink. Really solid amount of oak presence for only being a small blend. A very enjoyable offering.
Tried
from Bottle
on 09 Aug 2016
at 20:52
5.3/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 5
Pours amber, nice slightly beige foam, stays a bit. Aroma is malty, sweet and hint of hops. Taste is very caramelly, sweetish and mainly malt-forward. Bitterness is there but coming out later and no aromatics at all. Alcohol is warming. I don’t like this heavy, sticky and overly caramelly aftertaste. Can drink this but well, nothing enjoyable.
Tried
from Can
on 27 Feb 2016
at 04:00
6.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 5.5
500ml bottle from Waitrose. Auburn brown with a smattering of beige head. Smell of cheap cognac, rain-soaked oak and stone fruit. Full sweet taste with a nice hoppy note in the back of the throat. Full body, and unlike many supermarket bottles, not over-carbonated. It isn’t really my thing, but it’s tasty enough.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Dec 2015
at 13:46
6.5/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6
bottle from Tesco. Clear amber with a mid-sized white head. Aroma of dried fruit. Full-bodied, good malty flavours with hints of toffee fudge, dates and figs. Lingering finish with a good amount of hops.
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Sep 2015
at 04:26