27/06/2014. BATH BREW HOUSE, 14 James Street West, BATH, Bath & North East Somerset, England (CITY PUBS)

8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

Tap at Craft Farringdon. Fruity, strawberry and raspberry, jam, malty at the finish. Jam tarts! Nice and crisp. Refreshing, weird beard are good. Just enough graininess in the aroma to not make it sweet.

7.5

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

Handpull cask at the Petersfield, Cambridge. Mid-gold, clear. Very little evidence of carbonation. Blood orange, passion fruit and pineapple in the hoppy aroma, but there’s also a touch of woody and biscuity malt. The bitterness in the taste come as a bit of a shock, not least because I’ve been drinking more subtle beers all night. It’s got bags of flavour though, carrying on to the gooey bitter finish. Apricot randy and kumquat in the aftertaste. A lovely, bitter fruity IPA.

6.1

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 6.5

Bottled (Spontaneous KSMT tasting). Hazy golden colour with a small white head. Aroma is citrus, some grass, mild wooden and caramelly notes. Flavour is fruity, floral, grassy and earthy with some mild malty notes. A bit on the watery side of things.

7.8

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8

From a 50 cl bottle. Apparently intended as a tribute to old school English IPA. Thick, dense, moussy, egg-white head remaining closed and leaving thick, velvety lacing on the edge of the glass; warm ’old gold’ colour, clear with not much fizz, turning completely hazy and darker, brownish peach-like in colour with deposit. Fragrant bouquet of dried lemongrass, lychee, starfruit, drying hay, dusty earth, strawberry, mouldy orange, sweet red apple, olive oil, dried kitchen herbs, raw carrots straight from the garden. Crisp, spritzy onset, fruity but in a ’clean’ way, with accents of lychee, unripe plum and a faint hint of strawberry, basically softly sourish but with nice sweetishness piercing through; carbonation is quite strong but ’refined’, almost champagne-like, but the drinkability does not suffer from this at all. Body is supple and a bit oily, based on a pleasantly bready, yet light and slightly grainy maltiness, dryish, further dried by the hops, which present themselves already in the onset but increase in strength towards the end, where they combine a deep, leafy, herbal, tonic water-like bitterness with lovely retronasal aromas of dried lemon peel and dried flowers. Finishes in complete drought, blocking even the narrowest trace of juicy maltiness - the explicitly herbal, decisively bittering, profoundly English flavour of the Target gets the last word, that much is clear. There are so many IPAs around globally these days that it must be a difficult task to make one that it set apart from the rest, but this one seems to achieve just that; the choice of hops and the way they have been applied, has indeed created an IPA which brings the glorious British past of this much-executed style to life - no citrus or pine here, but a thorough, extremely dry, earthy yet still elegant bitterness all around. Somewhat unusual IPA indeed for those unfamiliar to the few traditionally British remnants of the style, but in any case another great Weird Beard beer and clearly a great achievement in its particular context, I will recommend this to anyone interested in ’English IPA’ which nowadays (all too?) often comes far behind ’American IPA’. The total dryness of it works very appetizing as well, this will literally make your mouth water...

6.4

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

Bottle from de Molen Beershop, dated 30-06-2015 BB 30-06-2016, medium sample. Slight hazy golden color, short head. Aroma is bit citrussy, slight grapefruit, bit grassy. Soft bitterness, slight malty, bit fruity yeast. Bit thin.

8

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Appearance: Hazy orange golden color with a fine white head. Ok lacing.
Aroma: Fresh grapefruit hoppy, some pine and tropical fruity.
Palate: Medium (+) body. Fine balance between sweetness and bitterness. Soft carbonation.
Taste: Fine fresh gapefruit hoppy, pine and tropical fruity.
Overall impression: Nice fresh, tasty and easy drinkable hop juice.
Personal stats:On tap at Weird Beard Tap takeover at BrewDog Camden in London, England

7.3

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

Pretty golden-orange, thuck lace. Tobacco, orange, grass,herbs, biscuit malt. Semi-sweet, nice orange andnpeach,herbal, grassy. Tasty stuff.

7.4

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5

On tap at Mikkeller & Friends, Copenhagen. Pours hazy orange, white head. Citrus, fruity, hoppy. Dry bitter finish. Medium bodied.

7

Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 7

Tasted from the tap on the 13/06/2015. Hazy golden colour with bubbly head and good retention. ARoma of intense hops, yeast and fruits. Taste is acid, hoppy and with nice presence of spices. Next one please!