Bottle. Appearance - deep amber with a red hue. A decent head. Nose - maple, as well as usual toffee. Taste - more toffee, light nuttiness, maple I suppose. Palate - close to medium bodied with a rich creamy middle section and a finish which could be a little cleaner, to be honest. Overall - a decent ESB but I’d like more clean biscuit notes on the finish.

(Bottle) Clear coppery amber with almost no head. Pleasant but subtle light toffee aroma. Medium body with good carbonation. Nice taste - rich and sweet with toffee malt flavours and distinct maple notes with some slight tangy and bitter balance. Good beer with maple present but not overwhelming. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

500ml bottle from Sainsbury’s. Didn’t like this the last time i tried it, but really enjoyed it this time. Amber colour with a thin white head. Aroma malty, milk chocolate and dried fruity. taste is light sweet, to light bitter. Medium body.

Copper coloured bitter, no head. Has a mild fruit character which coupled with its smoothness in the palate makes for a very pleasant ale.

Clear, dark armber beer with a foamy head and a very subtle aroma. Fizzy to the point of almost smothering the initial taste on the tongue. The maple flavour is quite subtle but carries through to a lasting aftertaste.

500ml bottle from Sainsbury’s - Not a bad looking pint, deep copper colour with a half inch white head, has a mild malty aroma with hints of caramel. First hit has notes of sweet syrup, but this soon gives way to a bitter after taste which lasts quite a while. Not a big fan of Holt Ales, so I’ve avoided this for ages, but on this performance, I might give them a chance.

Ambrata buona schiyma non molto persisyente leggero fruttato sciroppo acero note maltate lieve agrunato non molto amara

50 cl bottle, 4.8%, 2.80€. Clear amber color with a bubbly offwhite head. Nose has something fruity with a hint of roasted malts. Aroma of roasted malts, caramel, syrup, sugary, with cascade hops. Really don’t know how maple tastes like so can’t judge that.Taste is sweetish and sugary with a moderate bitterness balance.Mouthfeel is fuffy, medium bodied with a sourish edge and moderately dry. Carbonation is soft.

Feb 2008: 500ml brown bottle, this beer is made with cascade hops for aroma, amber malts for colour and a hint of maple for the hell of it. good solid amber colour, almost clear but a slight cloudiness can be seen. The white head soon disappeared into a wispy semi covering. The aroma was fairly weak, some hops and barley but little else. The maple may well be in there, but I couldn’t find it, I found the beer sharp, tangy and bitter. In other words, what an English bitter should taste like. The beer became drier as I drank it and although it wasn’t unpleasant, it changed my perception of the beer and I would have prefered it to have got sweeter with the maple making an appearance. All in all, fine. The maple tag is obviously a gimmick because there was no hint of it within the drink according to my senses, which is a shame, because I wanted to see what it would do to the beer.