Cask @ Henry Boons, Wakefield. Golden with a creamy head. Bitter in character with a sweetened hop-maltiness.

Cask handpull at County Hotel Spoons Ashford. Hazy gold lasting white head. some biscuit some tart citrus hop bit of Sherbet some ok condition.

Bottle obtained through a work-related relationship, cheers Jeremy! New label compared to the picture on the left hand side of this page... Medium sized, off-white, moussy, ’membranously’ lacing head over a lightly hazy, pure and warm golden blonde beer with medium fizz. Aroma is unfortunately heavily impaired by the dreaded lightstruck effect (sulfuric burning rubber, stale cat pee), strangely so as it comes from a brown bottle; this effect almost completely hides more pleasing impressions of lightly toasted white bread, damp straw, dried field flowers, mineral water, faint lemon peel, unripe pear, grass. Neutral onset even for a golden ale, crisp and clean, very lightly sourish and grainy with almost no sweetness, softish carbonation adding a minerally effect, smooth and light body, grainy middle phase, thin and almost watery with just a very light touch of malt sweetness but almost fading away, were it not for the Euro ’noble’ hops coming to the rescue in the end, providing a firm, earthy, leafy bitterness, lasting quite long and providing some herbal and floral retronasal aromas; ends very dry and bitter for an English golden ale. The late hopping tries to save the day: obviously the dominating sulfuric ’lightstruck stench’ ruins the nose completely, but in the mouth, they do create a strong bitter structure around which this beer is more or less centered, as it contains little else for balance. This unfortunate lightstruck odour kept penetrating the nostrils with strong perseverance all the way through the bottle and I would have liked a tad more malt sweetness in this type of beers; still preferable over any English lager of course, the beer style often ’mimicked’ by golden ale. Cannot honestly say I enjoyed this though, I do hope the other ones from this brewery will be better in their respective styles and I expect this beer to be way better on draught too, when light is not allowed to ruin the aroma.

Cask at JDW Charlie Hall; golden amber pour with smooth off white head, floral and fruity hop aroma, taste sweet malt taste along with some citrus hop and a hint of biscuits, a moderate bitter finish. Session IPA candidate.

Hand-pulled pint in The Shrewsbury Hotel, a Wetherspoons place in Shrewsbury on 27th Jan 2014. Slight haze to the amber body, a deep creamy head sat on top. This leads with a hop bitterness and finishes in the same vain. It isn’t one dimensional though, there are malty bits within the flavours, it has a fruity centre and some biscuit crumbs to find in the taste. I enjoyed it, the 4.3% ABV sat nicely and I’d have another if it came my way again.

Cask at the Old Manor (JDW), Bracknell. A slightly hazy amber pour with a ring of white head that leaves lots of lacing on the glass; straightforward grapefruit aroma; a sharp grapefruit bitterness in teh mouth; and a long finish with some honey providing a touch of sweetness. Very drinkable.

Cask at The Playhouse, Colchester. Poured a clear light amber with a frothy white head and lots of broken lace. The aroma is floral hop. The flavour is medium to strong bitter with a grassy floral aromatic slightly pepper palate and a long bitter finish. Medium bodied with soft carbonation. It smells and tastes like a liquidised flower arrangement!

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