7

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

Bottiglia. Al naso l'aroma rimanda al fruttato. La finezza olfattiva è normale, permanendo in maniera sufficiente. Il manto birroso superiore ha una buona tenuta. La grandezza delle bollicine è medio- fine, con qualche bollicina grande. Il liquido è di apparenza velata. Il colore è ramato. Il corpo è strutturato. L'amaro è intenso. La forza gustativa è elevata e la permanenza è buona. Il gusto è piacevole. Le sensazioni boccali finali risultano luppolate. Il retrogusto è intenso. Sulla lingua si fermano sentori di miele, crosta di pane, frutta secca, luppolo, agrumi, pompelmo, ananas e arancia.

6.8

Okay beer, comes across traditional english. A bit on the dry sharp side, but caramalty. Beirkonig maybe

6

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

Fles 33cl thuis. Citrus, malttonen, fruitig, appel, cereal, honingtonen, vrij droog, bittertonen. (28-7-2023).

6.5

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

33cl bottle from Carrefour Market Cours St. Michel in Brussels. F: huge, egg-white, long lasting. C: deep gold, light hazy. A: malty, vaguely fruity, bit caramel, banana, apples, honey, bit herbal. T: medium to full malty base, banana, apples, bit caramel, pear, bready, bubblegum touch, bit herbal, nice balanced bitterness, medium carbonation, better than previous version Martin's Pale Ale, enjoyed.

6.6

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

New label, new recipe and a new executing brewery, in this case apparently disclosed by John Martin (which is very atypical for them): the classic Martin's Pale Ale, a big hit in the sixties and seventies when it was still a near-alias of the original English Bulldog by Courage, has apparently been redesigned last year, so I guess this warrants a review... Bottle from the Delhaize supermarket in Lokeren. Very thick, egg-white, foamy, pillowy, frothy, stable head on a crystal clear 'metallic' orange blonde beer (a pale amber almost) with strong visible sparkling; turns misty and a tad deeper amber further on. Aroma - after the carbon dioxide 'sting' has faded - of burnt sugar, dry cookies, ripe banana, fried apple, iron, honey, caramel, pear, petrichor, rubber, dust, grass. Prickly onset with - unsurprisingly seen the looks of it - numbing overcarbonation, adding a sour aspect and strong minerality, but also accentuating the iron element; fruity notes of ripe pear, banana and red apple are almost pushed away by it. Harsh overcarbonation continues through a cookie- and sweet bread-like maltiness with vague peanutty edges but also something bubblegummy from the isoamylacetate, while a honeyish sweetness also remains; ends with grassy and floral hop bitter notes which gently linger, along with remaining banana ester and residual sweetness, while the malts unfortunately fade away all too quickly for this style of beer. Not sure what to think of this remake of what once was a standard EPA: the banana ester sweetness and fruitiness has turned this old familiar classic into something more 'Belgian', but admittedly there is only a thin line between classic English pale ale and 'spéciale belge'; this one sure feels like a typical 20th-century 'spéciale belge' to me, but I would rather have had it less sweet, less metallic, cleaner and more malt-forward: thàt would have been an actual improvement of what was essentially a boring standard ale. Not too impressed, but I must admit that I was expecting even worse, considering the name of John Martin being attached to it.

7.6

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

clear amber colour, large, dense ecru-ish head; aroma of marmalade, grape, dried apple, slight licorice and caramel notes; taste is similar to the aroma with burnt sugary bittersweetness; really good one!

7.3

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

Huge yellowish head, dense and pitting in, leaving strings of lace over lively carbonated, deep-copper beer. Typical "beery" nose - as entering a pub in full swing, malts (pale and darker coloured), herbs and weeds. Faint hint at bananapeel, greenmalt and lots of caramel. Inviting. Almost bitter onset, followed by slightly scorched & coloured malts, sweet-ish. Maltbomb with herbal hints, but not dry as in German "herb" Finish has dry bitterish dark green leaves. Medium bodied, slick, even a bit chewy. Very well-carbonated, rather dry aftertaste. I seem to like it better than the former versions. Certainly far from the worst coming from either company!