Cask at The Picture Palace (Wetherspoons), Ponders End, Enfield. A dark brown/black coloured pour with a thin off white head on top. Caramel, dark fruit aroma. Tastes of dark fruit, caramel, malty. A little thin but quite good.

Cask-conditioned at the Holborn Whippet, 3/10/2012. Dark brown with a tight, off-white head. Sweetish, malty, aroma with a touch of roastiness. Flavour also inclined towards sweetness, with some chocolate, caramel and a gently bitter finish. Enjoyable.

On cask at the Flying Horse, Gatwick Airport - Jan ’12. Pours a mid chestnut brown into a UK half pint glass with an ’off’ white frothy head. Head maintained its presence fairly well throughout drinking and plenty of lacing on show.Dried fruit and malt aroma. Tastes of dried fruits, raisen, malts, light spice, perhaps liqourice? Thinnish body to this beer. An OK beer but not one I’d purposefully seek out in the future!

Half pint, hand pulled in the excellent ‘Castle’ (Cambridge) in Nov 2011. The Adnam’s owned pub had 8 different beers of their own available in cask form, so half pints were the order of the day. Mahogany/reddish in colour, with an off-white head that left some good heavy lacing. Malty caramel notes in the nose, lightly toasted nuts and some dried fruit in there too. Sweeter than an old ale should be (in my opinion) and young feeling too! Those caramel notes in the aroma are too strong in the flavour and although full bodied, it just doesn’t seem right to be known as an ‘old ale’ let alone called one. Second time I’ve written something like this about Adnam’s: disappointed to be honest, nothing wrong with it really, just not what an old ale from Adnam’s should taste or feel like. I think the brew has been ’played with’ and isn’t the same as years ago.

Cask @ JDW Elgin
Very dark brown...ruby light through....light tan head...good lacing
Aroma of sweet dark caramel malts
Taste - Sweet dark carammel malts...dark fruits..soft toffee...almost no hops...emphasis on malts....well blended and very moreish
Palate - very soft carb...dark sweet malts...very very smooth..thin to medium body...great mouthfeel. Finish - more dark malts and silky smoothness
Overall - Great smooth malty beer for 4.1% and very quaffable. Was in top notch condition.

Cask (Flying Horse JDW, Gatwick Airport) - Dark brown with red tinges. Fruity aroma with marzipan and fruitcake. Fruity, malty and slightly metallic taste with notes of raisins and marzipan detected.

Cask at the Green Man (JDW), Queen Victoria Street, London. An attractive reddish copper colour with a dense cream head; fruity aroma; clean and crisp with apple and red berry flavours and a dry finish. A tasty ale.

Cask at the Cleveland Arms, London. Pours a dark, ruby-brown with a mild, creamy tan head. Malty nose, with some kind of ripe fruits. Very sweet flavor, with dark malts, grape and prune, along with some licorice and toffee perhaps. Medium in body with fine carbonation. Dark fruit finish, nicely sweet, with very little bitterness. Plenty of lingering grape. Could use a bit more "umph" but decent overall.

Cask at NWAF 2009. A brown beer with a thin tan head. The aroma has notes of malt both sweet and roasted as well as caramel. The flavor is sweet malty with notes of roasted malt and caramel as well as lighter notes of over ripe fruits, leading to a dry bitter finish, where the caramel note lingers.

Cask @ National Winter Ales Festival 2009, Manchester. Pours a dark ruby color with a small off-white head. Has a roasted malty caramel aroma with some hoppy hints. Sweetish roasted malty caramel flavor with some hints of chocolate. Has a sweetish roasted malty caramel finish with some hoppy hints in the aftertaste.