Southwold Bitter (Bottle/Can)
(Batch of Southwold Bitter)
Adnams in Southwold, Suffolk, England 🏴
Bitter - Ordinary / Best Bitter Regular|
Score
6.35
|
|
Brewed with the finest Maris Otter and optic malts, sourced locally to the brewery, with the addition of three hop varieties including First Gold.
Southwold Bitter is a beautiful copper-coloured beer, late and dry-hopped with Fuggles for a distinctive, lingering hoppiness.
Brewed with the finest East Anglian Pale Ale malt barley, sourced locally to the brewery. We use Fuggles hops which we add late in the boil to preserve the herbal flavours of this traditional English hop.
First brewed in 1967, it was originally called Adnams Best Bitter. It holds our oldest trademark, Southwold Jack, and remains the original hero in our range.
Southwold Bitter is as distinctive as ‘Southwold Jack’ (the knight with the sword) who appears on the pump clip and has done so through many incarnations. Many Adnams beer fans would agree with our Head Brewer that Adnams Bitter is a truly distinctive pint. We wouldn’t be overselling it to describe it as a classic.
Southwold Bitter is a beautiful copper-coloured beer, late and dry-hopped with Fuggles for a distinctive, lingering hoppiness.
Brewed with the finest East Anglian Pale Ale malt barley, sourced locally to the brewery. We use Fuggles hops which we add late in the boil to preserve the herbal flavours of this traditional English hop.
First brewed in 1967, it was originally called Adnams Best Bitter. It holds our oldest trademark, Southwold Jack, and remains the original hero in our range.
Southwold Bitter is as distinctive as ‘Southwold Jack’ (the knight with the sword) who appears on the pump clip and has done so through many incarnations. Many Adnams beer fans would agree with our Head Brewer that Adnams Bitter is a truly distinctive pint. We wouldn’t be overselling it to describe it as a classic.
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6.5/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 5
Overall 6.5
(Can) Brownish amber colour with creamy, tan head. Malty nose with dried fruit, bread, treacle toffee, apricots, orange peel and spices. Malty taste with notes of fruit cake, treacle toffee, dried apricots, caramel, orange peel and a balanced spicy/earthy bitterness in the finish. Medium body, with a touch of sweetness. Well balanced, smooth and fairly generic bitter. Quite nice.
Tried
from Can
on 08 Jan 2026
at 19:57
6.4/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6
Mild smell of caramel malt. Copper colour, small beige head. Aroma of malt, metal, some caramel. Earth in finish. Medium bitter. Soft plentiful carbon.
Tried
from Bottle
from Alko (Webshop)
on 23 Dec 2025
at 16:21
6.8/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 7
Overall 7
Color ámbar cobrizo, espuma blanco hueso de media retención. Aroma a malta y caramelo. En boca es maltosa, fondo dulzón y acaramelado, tiene cierto toquecito leve que recuerda un poco a piruleta, cuerpo medio, carbonatación suave, final ligeramente amargo y terroso, bastante rica.
Tried
from Can
from
Zombier
on 29 Sep 2025
at 21:41
5.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 6
Old rating - Poured from the can at a beach house in West Sussex, previously had it from the bottle at home. Decent bitter.
Tried
from Can
on 02 Jul 2025
at 08:36
7/10
—
Appearance 7
Aroma 7
Flavor 7.5
Texture 7
Overall 6.5
Slightly unclear dark amber with a big foamy head. Toffee, raisins, dry lemon zest, marzipan, wood, slightly resinous. Dry zesty bitterness, malty sweetness. Light bodied, watery creamy texture, lively carbonated, dry zesty malty bittersweet finish. A very good Bitter!
Tried
from Can
from
Heinrich's Super Getränke-Markt 3000
on 22 Jun 2025
at 18:56
6.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 5.5
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
500 ml bottle, from Vaaland, Bryne. ABV is 4.1%. Copper coloured beer, moderate off-white head. Moderate aroma, some malts and toffee, hints of stale berries and "dusty" hops. The flavour has again some malts and toffee, but is quite dry. Just a hint of fruit. Moderately bitter hops in the finish, some nutty notes. Drinkable, but not Adnams’ best.
Tried
from Bottle
from
Vaaland 1889
on 23 Feb 2025
at 17:08
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 7.5
Texture 8
Overall 7
0.5l Can @ 4.1ABV.
Pours a clear dark copper. Scent is intense, typical English malts, bit toasty, coockie dough, whiff of caramel. Quite nice ! Taste is more bitter than expected, and more bitter than other bitter's i've had - but still very balanced and smooth, giving room to the malts to shine brightly. All the same as the aroma's, with additional earthy aroma's from the hop (very mild) as well as a touch of 'green' herbal hoppy notes. Toasty, medium bitter finish. Easy drinkability, with medium low to medium carbo. Very enjoyable !
Pours a clear dark copper. Scent is intense, typical English malts, bit toasty, coockie dough, whiff of caramel. Quite nice ! Taste is more bitter than expected, and more bitter than other bitter's i've had - but still very balanced and smooth, giving room to the malts to shine brightly. All the same as the aroma's, with additional earthy aroma's from the hop (very mild) as well as a touch of 'green' herbal hoppy notes. Toasty, medium bitter finish. Easy drinkability, with medium low to medium carbo. Very enjoyable !
Tried
on 09 Feb 2025
at 11:23
6.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Bottle from Drankenhandel Leiden. Malty aroma with notes of caramel and nuts, toasted malt, leaves, fruit. Flavour is moderate bitter with a little sweetness and a light body. Pretty drinkable.
Tried
from Bottle
on 24 Jan 2025
at 13:21
6.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Fine aromatic flowery hoppy Aroma, crisp malty base Flavor is flowery fruity stingy, carbonated, candy
Tried
from Can
on 08 Jun 2024
at 17:26
6.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
deep golden colour edging towards ruby A - caramel slight english floral hop character, bit metallic F - malty with slightly bitter toffee, grassy floral hops I guess its fairly representative of a southern bitter, cant fault it, its pretty much what you would expect it to be.
Tried
from Can
on 11 May 2024
at 23:10