6th November 2009
Clear light-gold beer. Very light hop nose with a trace of pineapple. Dry palate with a soft edge. Decent crisp hops, grassy and spicy. A touch of peach and pineapple at the finish. Bitterish afertaste. Decent hoppy pale ale.

Cask at Rayners Lane, W’Spoons. Nice golden coloured pour with a fluffy white head. Fresh American hoppy nose. Pleasantly hoppy, citrus fruit, slightly dry taste. Surprisingly complex. Incredibly drinkable. A good effort from Tomme Arthur.

Cask handpump, The Penny Black, JDW, Bicester, Oxon-18-11-09 Pours warm gold in colour with a white head, there is a hint of haze to this, barmaid really struggled pulling this one through it appeared very, very lively. Nice citrussy hoppy aroma. Taste has a pushy citrus (grapefruit) hoppiness about it with a nice layer of sweet malts to balance things out, brisk and breezy sort of beer, you’re sort of expecting it to be more hoppy and zappy than it is, but its actually a very drinkable sessionable hoppy beer., leading to a few hoppy burps. The festival is over but there are still a few festival beers on offer and this much like the others on offer this evening is just £1.39 with my a CAMRA 50p off token. A7 A4 F8 P4 Ov15 3.7

Cask at the Babington Arms (JDW), Derby. Amber with a low, dense, off-white head,leaving lots of lacing; aroma of pine resin; silky smooth in the mouth and full of resinous hops; short well-hopped bitter finish, leaving a pine resin aftertaste. In one word - piney - if that’s a word!

Cask-conditioned at the Knights Templar, Bristooll 29/10/09. Golden in colour with a decent white head. Citrus and tropical fruit hop aroma with some balancing malt sweetness. Easy drinking, with juicy fruits, a hint of caramel and a dry, citrus hop finish. Good stuff.

Cask handpull at Samuel Peto, JDW, Folkestone. Hops jump out of the glass at you. Pure clean gold, thick lasting cream head from the sparkler. Lovely US hop aroma. Some ok pale malts in mouth, then some juicy malt on swallow. Finish has some decent hop. More aromatic than bitter. Decent if not the best APA. Re-rate with no sparkler. Aroma is less as you would expect, bit thin and hard in mouth. 6 3 6 3 14 3.2/5.0 Re-rate at County Hotel, Ashford, much better, the aroma was very good, great American hop aroma, the body was better and overall just a more drinkable beer.