Cask @ Bath House, Cambridge. Clear dark gold/orange with a small white head. Aroma of malts, toffee, marzipan, citrus fruits and alcohol. Taste of malts, citrus fruits, toffee and marzipan. Low bitterness. Low carbonation. Alright.

Cask @ Eagle, Cambridge. Clear dark amber with no head. Aroma of toffee, marzipan and malts. Taste of malts, red fruits, toffee, cookies, marzipan and caramel. Low bitterness. Low carbonation. Balanced and very enjoyable. Nice.

Cask @ Eagle, Cambridge. Clear dark amber/red/brown with no head. Aroma of toffee, marzipan, malts and lightly dried fruits. Taste of malts, toffee, chocolate, red fruits, marzipan and some citrus and tropical fruits. Low bitterness. Low carbonation. Very good. Radical Hoptimist is a proper name if you are into these kind of puns (though it’s probably already been used before) but then why waste it on a malt-driven Amber Ale instead of a hop-forward IPA?

House beer of Ma Cameron’s, Aberdeen’s oldest pub, now in its third century of existence; apparently brewed at Greene King’s so I took my chances. Pint from tap there (where else) during a lovely meal involving haggis, hake and tomato soup. Creamy, snow white, dense and stable head on a hazy peach blonde robe with ochre-yellow hue. Aroma of freshly mown lawn, raw white bread dough, fresh dandelion leaf, young mugwort, beech leaves, pumice, dry oatmeal, green banana. Fruity-ish onset but not sweet, hints of unripe apricot and green banana with soft carb – nitro-tapped in this case, so ‘nitration’ in a sense, if admittedly improperly used; very creamy, silky mouthfeel, enhancing a grainy, wheat-flour and white-bread-tinged pale maltiness flavoured with very grassy and green-leafy hoppiness turning slightly wormwoody in the end. The hops feel very freshly green and have enough bittering power to establish a quenching ending. Typical modern British golden ale more than a true classic pale ale, but regardless of that, it has this very ‘freshly cut weed’ greenness to it, as if walking through a summer meadow – I could drink gallons of it.

tap at GreyFriars in St Andrews Scotland - one of the better Scotish IPAS - lighter, good hops

Cask pint draft at Bag O' Nails pub in London, England. It pours a crystal clear amber color with a thick khaki head and excellent retention. Excellent lacing too. This style just isn't that exciting. It's kind of boring. Tastes like a lager with a little bit of bitters added into it. No caramel notes like the a US version. At least this one is colder than the first one I had today. Medium body. Low carbonation. Light bitterness. Overall slightly better than the first bitter, but still nothing very exciting.