Wassail
Ballards in West Chiltington, West Sussex, England 🏴
Strong Ale Regular Out of Production|
Score
5.91
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A strong, full bodied, fruity beer; tawny red in colour. Wassail won Beer of the Festival at Cardiff in 1992, and Bronze in the Barley Wine category in the 1993 Champion Beer of Britain. Won the Silver at the Great Aberystwyth Beer Festival in 1998, and best in class at the 2002 SIBA South East Region Brewing Competition.
Ingredients: Pearl pale malt and crystal malt. Fuggles and Goldings hops.
Ingredients: Pearl pale malt and crystal malt. Fuggles and Goldings hops.
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6/10
Grainy beginning. Easy to drink with a grainy fruity back. Malts, caramel, hints of dry grainy bitterness. Ok.
Tried
on 29 Mar 2024
at 20:55
5.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 6
Coffee and leather. Dark brown pour with ok head. Light tangy finish. Cloying aftertaste. Limey. Bottle from Stonehenge giftshop. May be a little old. Or I don't know if Ballards still makes this honestly.
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Aug 2023
at 17:13
29/12/1989. UNICORN, HEYSHOTT, West Sussex, England (FREE HOUSE)
Tried
on 05 Nov 2022
at 11:27
1.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 1
Flavor 1
Texture 2
Overall 0.5
3rd beer on a ’random tasting evening’ with myself on 21st July 2017. 500ml bottle BBE July 2017, obtained from the English Heritage site at Roman Wroxeter (Shropshire). Poured slowly into a lovely vase shaped pint glass, badged for ’Old Speckled Hen’. Misty light brown pour, a dirty amber maybe: full and deep off-white blanket of foam on top. Shit, it’s been skunked, left in the sun on a shelf for too long: can’t drink it: bollox! I hate pouring beers down the sink, but this is undrinkable. Scored as I found it.
Tried
from Bottle
on 21 Jul 2017
at 14:29
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
Bottle from Warkworth Castle. Gusher. Pours murky amber brown with a thick off-white head. Aromas are bretty, this has clearly picked up a wild yeast somewhere along the line. Loads of sherbet, wood, funky yeast and forest floor. Unintentional, I’ll bet, but actually not bad. Taste is red fruit, wood, horse blanket. Dry finish. Better than expected, for a bottle that’s probably sat on the shelf in a warm gift shop for nearly a year.
Tried
from Bottle
on 19 Oct 2016
at 05:54
6.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
English Heritage branded bottle. This poured a hazy dark amber ale colour with a small near white head with an aroma of nuts and berries. Some lacing; fruity sweet, apple peel, berries, honey and a lasting alcohol/bitter taste in the finish. Not bad.
Tried
from Bottle
on 15 May 2016
at 15:23
6/10
—
Appearance 4
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6
Bottle from the Lincoln Christmas Market. As English Heritage Wassail. Hazy amber colour with virtually no head. Aroma burnt orange peel, taste mainly sweet to mid bitter sweet.
Tried
from Bottle
on 08 Dec 2015
at 00:00
4.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 4
Flavor 4
Texture 6
Overall 4
From cask. Pours cloudy orange with a small white head. Aroma is apples and slight citric. Fruity. Toasted malty. Mild citric. Toasted and dry citric. Flat malty and fruity finish.
Tried
from Cask
on 29 Dec 2014
at 17:48
6.2/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 6
500ml bottle bought at a museum store close to the cathedral in Lincoln, carried back home and shared with djoeye and Finn. Bubbly, patchy surface with kirchenfenster down the glass. Cloudy, apricot coloured body. Drying nose of old books and basement. Taste of dried fruits, bread, herbal hops and forest. Leafy hops towards the ending. Medium bodied. Quite nice (session at Finns, Tromsø 05.08.2014).
Tried
from Bottle
on 19 Aug 2014
at 12:21
4.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 4
Flavor 4
Texture 6
Overall 4
Cask gravity at the 2014 GBBF. Aroma is tart green apple tart berry, raisin. Golden light amber coloured pour with a loose white head. Flavour is caramel, cinnamon, tart granny smith apple. Palate is light tart fruit and fruit. Meh. Light infection.
Tried
from Cask
on 14 Aug 2014
at 13:17