Appearance: Clear light copper color with a creamy white head that leaves a fine lacing.
Aroma: Toffee, fruity and a bit hoppy.
Palate: Medium body. Moderate sweet and a fine bitterness. Creamy carbonation.
Taste: Toffee, fruity and light hoppy.
Overall impression: Ok standard british cask bitter.
Personal stats: From handpull in Stoke, England.

A nice fruity, malty aroma. Full malty flavour and a slightly dry hoppy finish. Good session bitter.

This is Batemans cooking bitter (as my Dad calls it), meaning it is their basic brew and not their best beer. It is one of only two cask ales at his local and is what I always have when visiting home: surprised I’ve never reviewed it before. This is from a BA review of 29 Oct 2011. This review is of a pint taken at my towns Wetherspoons during their beer festival. Hand pulled and into a UK straight sleeve: Mid to light amber in colour, with a dull white head on top, good lacing and a pleasant look all round. Challenger, Goldings and Styrian hops give the beer a hop aroma but not overly so, the pale and chocolate malts (local Lincolnshire ones) ensure the malts also feature in both the smell and taste. Easy drinking session ale, well balanced, a true classic Pale Ale Bitter. The flavours belittle its alcohol content, well worth trying if you come across it. Rarely seen outside the Batemans pub estate; XXXB being their biggest seller to the free trade.

5th October 2011
Liberty Bounds Spoons. Clear amber beer. Tidy cream coloured head. Smooth low carbonation palate. Mild toffee cream malt. Slightly tangy. A forensic trace of hop. Semi dry finish. Mildly bitter aftertaste.

Cask at the Prince Arthur (JDW), Fleet. Amber with a thin cream head; aroma of dusty hops; medium bodied with a weak earthy malt flavour and a lightly hopped finish. A pleasant ordinary bitter.

Cask @ The King’s Highway JDW, Inverness.
Amber...clear...thin white head.....reasonable lacing.
Aroma - not much going on here - a bit of malt.
Taste of caramel and biscuity malts, some bitter bit spicy hop, touch of fruitiness.
Soft carb...Finish a bit dry and sour with some minerals.
Bog standard bitter. OK.

500ml bottle. Pours dark copper with no head. Aroma is boiled sweets, touch of caramel malt as well. Taste is the same, with a bitter finish. Boring.

50cl bottle from Aldi. Golden amber with a loose, fast fading, cream head; malty aroma with a whiff of farmyard; light with some caramel and more farmyard flavours; and a chewy malty finish.

Cask at the Redan. Pours clear gold with a foamy, white head. Tangy malts on the nose. Faintly sweet with tangy, almost sour malts and hints of dough. Light bodied with fine carbonation. Tangy finish, some bready malts. Not too good, but the condition could be off.