21/2/2014. Cask at the 15th Chelmsford Winter Beer & Cider Festival.

Bottle at home in London - picked up at Kris Wines. Well, I went to Salisbury School and our nickname was Sarum, so I had to buy this beer. Pours perfectly clear gold with moderate effervescence and a small, foamy white head that settles into a cream before dissipating fully. Simple, sugary malts in the nose with hints of apple and ripe orange. Medium sweet flavor with further basic, bready malts, touches of caramel, apple, hay. Light bodied with fine carbonation. Somewhat crisp to finish with lingering bready malts, faint dirty hay bitterness, vague citrus notes. Relatively pleasant. Easy drinking.

500ml Bottle from B&M Newport (Shropshire):BBD on the cap stated end of Aug 14. Poured into a UK pint sleeve on 18 Dec 13. Golden with a thick white blanket of foam for a head. The nose wasn’t as hoppy as I thought it would be, neither was the taste. This is more like a well balanced beer with a good hop content that is kept in check by the semi-sweet malts in the brew. The aroma was on the maltier side of the scale than well hopped, the taste followed that line: very pleasant and easy to drink, just not very IPA-ish in my eyes. Went well with ’White Stilton’ actually.

500ml Bottle from B&M Newport (Shropshire): BBD on cap end of July 14, poured into a tall UK pint glass at home on 18 Dec 13. Golden pour, lager like in it’s clarity and colour: a full white head of foam sat on top. The head turned into a wisp and collar after about ten minutes. Semi-sweet aroma: pale maltiness with cornflakes and sugar. The taste leans towards a sweetish lager/pilsner just like the smell: this is a weird bird and I bet it’s a ’Heath Robinson’ sort of affair. Great idea and lots of ’faffing’ during the brewing and blending but an end result that doesn’t add up. Citrus notes begin to appear (the brewery suggests you serve it ’slightly chilled’, so I did) in both the nose and taste as it warmed in the glass. Different and a mish-mash of contradicting smells and flavours: not all bad, but not really for me.

(Cask at Angleterre, 20131213) The beer poured deep golden and clear. Its head was small, dense, white and lt lasted long. Aroma had malts, molasses and sweet hops. Palate was medium bodied with low carbonation. Flavours were sweet hops, malts, molasses and bitterness. Aftertaste was grassy and bitter. A decent English IPA.

Cask at The Watford Beer Festival 2013. Poured a dark golden colour with no head. Aroma of honey, mango and grain. Chewy malt flavours with notes of caramel and cereals. Palate was toffee, corn and grassy hop.

Cask@ Angleterre. Golden, frothy, creamy head. Fruity, leathery, biscuity aroma. Flavor quite the same, biscuity, dark fruity. Watery.

-- rated with beerbasher/winphone

Cask at Oluthuone Leskinen, Oulu. Colour is clear copper with small thick white head. Aromas and flavours: Bitterness, dryness and malts. Quite tasteless, soapy and not in best condition.

Cask @ Bricklayer’s Arms, Putney SW15. Pours a golden color with a small white head. Has a fruity weak citrus hoppy aroma. Fruity malty weak citrus hoppy flavor. Has a fruity malty citrus hoppy finish.

Two hand-pulled pints in the excellent Rai d’Or; a pub/Thai restaurant in Salisbury on 12th Oct 2013. Brown to dirty amber in body colour, the head being a dull white covering. Malts rule the aroma and taste with the hops playing second fiddle in both senses. Not really sweet, but a definite malt lead in all aspects. Medium bodied and easy to drink, especially with the delicate Thai food I had with my beers. I really enjoyed this beer from a brewery I’ve never seen beers from before, hope I bump into another one day.