Cask at the Pump House, Shirley. Poured a crystal clear medium amber with a frothy white head. The aroma is light hop. The flavour is moderate to light bitter with a malt, grainy, light woody hop bitter palate. Medium bodied with soft carbonation.

Cask @ Firehouse, Sowerby Bridge. Clear dark amber-redwith a thin head. Has a thinnish tasting winter berry fruitiness with a bushy-floral character.

On cask at Sutton Coldfield Football Club - A nice surprise this one, autumn reddy-brown coloured body, thick lacing white head. Not too much in the way of nose, the expected fruitiness and caramel notes seemed to be a bit muted to be honest. Taste is more in the way of what I hoped, rich and malty, like a nice piece of Soreen in a glass. Mouthfeel was sublime, which was a great bonus to send it down a treat. Pity we lost the game.

Cask at the Squirrel, High Wycombe. Amber-red with a moderate creamy head. Fruity up front- oranges and sweet stewed plums. Some leafy hops give balance at first but are eventually overtaken by the usual GK toffee. Quite a flavoursome beer, but rather sweet.

Cask @ The Stapleton Tavern, Stroud Green. Pours an autumn leaf colour, rich with sweetish malts. Very flavoursome and moreish.

Cask @ Ship, Bedford (GK). Mid-brown. A lot of light gets through. Although this is the first pint off a new barrel, there’s just the right amount of head/carbonation. Honestly can’t smell much, a bit malty/fruity, nothing offensive. Taste is quite lovely really - very sweet without being cloying - although there isn’t a lot of complexity. Finish is more astringent. It’s a bit controversial to say it but most Greene King beers, including this one, are not bad at all. Nothing to get excited about either.

18th December 2012
Cask at the Goodmans Fields Spoons. Clear brown - amber beer. Small off white head. Smooth palate. Sweetish malts and sweet orange marmalade. Overall quite a sweet beer. Drinkable but I could not be bothered with another and switched to lager!

Cask at the Quinns Head (Harlequinns RFU), Twickenham- 16/11/12. Dark chestnut brown with a thin tan head that quickly clears to the edge. Nose is dark malts, dark fruits, toffee, nutty tones, light hops in the background. Tastes of dark malts, caramel, treacle toffee, nuts, figs, marshmelow, butterscotch angel delight. Medium bodied, light carbonation, smooth on the palate, bitter finish.

Cask at Assembly House, London. Pours clear, golden-brown with a fine, light tan cream head. Sugary, semi-dark malt nose, some toast. medium sweet flavor with lots of unfermented sugars and mild, leafy bitterness. Light bodied with fine, creamy carbonation. Sugary finish with faint caramel, some berries. Nothing special.

From November 2008: Brown 500ml bottle poured into a Hoegaarden Grand Cru stemmed tulip glass (one and a half times). Tawny or light ruby red in colour, clear and clean. an off-white head sat on top, large at first, then a collar and wisp. Like some others, I found a Belgian Beer aroma at first, this did fall away somewhat but it was still evident right to the end of the drink. A maltiness took over as the main smell once the beer began to warm a little, still pleasant though. The beer tasted OK, not as rich or flavoursome as the aroma hinted at, but better than a lot of bottled UK stuff. The malt from the aroma was there as was a bit of citrus fruit and toffee. Watery in the mouthfeel and certainly not full bodied as mentioned on the labelling. I’d need a roaring fire and a glass of Port with this beer to make it into a Winter Warmer, but it is an OK beer and one of Greene Kings better products.