Osprey

Clear amber with medium off white head. Sweet malty aroma with caramel notes. Sweet flavor with toasted malt, caramel and mild hoppy notes.

[February 2008, 500ml bottle from Sainsburys Reading] Huge waft of malt on opening the bottle. Impressive creamy head unfortunately dissipates quickly. Beer has a very mild fizz; about the right amount to go with the beer. The taste is a lot less malty than the smell. There are some red fruit and raisins in there too, maybe a small slice of fruit cake (only in the flavour, I don’t mean that there’s soggy cake in the bottle!). Finish is moderately bitter hops, slightly astringent. Overall this would be quite pleasant for a 4% ale, but the flavours were rather weak and insipid compared to what you would expect for an ale of this strength. In fact, it didn’t seem to go to my head as I normally expect a strong ale to - are you sure this is 6.5%? I think Wychwood could improve this one with a bit of effort - it feels a bit half-hearted at present. Are they not trying their hardest because they’re contract brewing it?

Vague aroma of dark fruits. Taste of dark berries and tart fruits. Brush of hop resin in the ending. Nice amber body colour under a slightly off-white head. Rather solid mouthfeel. 500ml from Sainsbury’s, Tottenham Court Road (St. Giles hotel 29.04.2008)

Medium offwhite lasting head. Amber body. Sweet fruity caramelly aroma with wooden metallic notes. Sweet wooden rich fruity malty taste with a dry background. Caramelly, spicy notes with peppery hops. Long, dry wooden metallic malty aftertaste. Some roastiness. Nice, drinkable. (0.5l bottle from Sainsbury’s, London.)

Copper coloured with a decent, off-white head. Slight fruity malt aroma. Smooth mouth feel for such a strong beer, with some malt flavour and a hint of earthy hop in the finish. Inoffensive - there are numerous more pleasant ales at far lower ABVs.

500 ml bottle. Clear golden to light brown body with a small beige head. Aroma is mostly malty with a little hint of hops. Flavor is malt and hops in a refreshing balanced mix. Not to complex but very thirst-quencher.

Bottle. Brown colour with a beige head. Aroma is fruit, apple, hop, malt. Flavour has the same elements. Easy drinkable.

Bottle. Clear, golden body and a dense, beige head. Sweetness, malt and some hops in the aroma, and a balanced flavor with malt and hops and nothing else. Medium body. A nice and balanced finish as well. There’s nothing special to this beer, but it could go for a drinking session if it was a bit lower on the alcohol, but I wouldn’t want them to lower it though. (070427)

Amber with an off-white head; overpowering aroma of burnt caramel; thin and acidic in the mouth with a sour flavour; some hops then kick in with a prolonged bitterness. Lacks the richness described on the label.

Bottle from Sainsburys, Banbury. Copper coloured beer with medium white head, fruity and malty and quite bitter, fine but nowt special.