Cask gravity @ Reading Beer Festival 2008.Clear medium yellow orange color with a average, frothy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white to white head. Aroma is light to moderate malty, toasted, light to moderate hoppy, spicy - herby flavor. Flavor is moderate sweet and bitter with a average duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is flat. (010508)

Cask gravity @ Reading Beer Festival 2008.Clear medium amber color with a small, fizzy, good lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, roasted, dusty, cabbage water. Flavor is moderate sweet and bitter with a average duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is flat. (010508)

Cask @ Charlies Bar, Copenhagen. Pours a slightly hazy golden color with a longlasting off-white head. Fruity malty and a slighlty berry aroma. Sweetish fruity flavor with some hoppy hints and some hints of citrus. Sweet maly fruity finish.

Cask @ Charlies Bar, Copenhagen. Pours a clear golden color with a small white head. Has a fruity malty and slightly hoppy aroma with hints of citrus. Fruity malty hoppy citrus flavor. Hasa fruity finish wit some hints of apple and citrus in the aftertaste.

Cask at the Three Guineas, Reading, 01/06/2008 (pre Kaiser Chiefs at the Hexagon).
Golden blonde with a white head.
Nose and taste are grass, mellow orange, straw, grains.
Medium bodied, soft carbonation, light drying close.
Passable golde.

[i] [b] Cask conditioned at the Kings Arms, Oxon 24-05-08 [/i] [/b] Pours chesnut in colour with a thin white head, appearance is a little cloudy but tastes fine if a tad unexciting, some toffee, soft sweet malts and little else.

Cask-conditioned at the Bag O’Nails, Bristol 20/5/08. Deep amber coloured with a slight white head. A fairly standard bitter, with some fruit and caramel in the aroma, followed by a sweetish flavour with some marmalade, earthy hops and a short bitter finish. Good.

Half pint, gravicask at the great pub The Swan, Little Totham (see places, under Essex). Dark copper with a rusty tint. Lacing-head. Smell of dark malt sweetness. Biscuit-like taste with chocolate hints. Medium bitter finish. Firm mouthfeel (in the beer garden with good friends on a sunny afternoon, 03.05.2008).

[on draught at the Allied Arms, Reading] Now, all of us remember the actually-rather-good adverts for John Smiths, all based around the tagline "No Nonsense Beer". And a significant proportion of real ale enthusiasts immediately thought (and often vocalised) that the tagline for John Smiths should be "No Flavour Beer". Now the reason why I bring this particular ad up is that I’ve found the beer that it should have been used for - Archers Best. Pours a deep reddish-amber, with a small but lasting creamy head. There’s a hint of dusky red fruits there, and there’s a dry, bitter, but very well-balanced finish. But primarily this is just a great example of a traditional English bitter, and one that goes down a treat - it would make a great session beer. I have to say, after having tried a series of "complex" high strength British beers and trappist ales over the last couple of months, it made a refreshing change to have a "no nonsense" beer like this.

Cask-conditioned at the Bag O’Nails, Bristol 11/05/08. Pale gold in colour with a slight white head. Fruit malt and grassy hop aroma. Flavour started sweet, with a hint of butter before a spicy hop finish. Good.