May 2009: Conned again by this brewery, thought I’d got a beer from Nepal, not the UK. My mission to drink around the world is getting bogged down by labels that hide the truth. Anyway, this green 660ml bottle had 3 months life left when it was opened on a sunny Shropshire afternoon in my garden, the third beer in a pilsner/lager tasting. It came second in the scoring, beating two Greek and a Dutch beer, the winner coming from Sweden. The beer was poured into a Veltins stemmed tulip and a vase shaped glass from the Watzdorfer brewery. Slightly cloudy appearance with a pure white head. The body was a dull, old gold colour. The beer uses wheat as well as barley malts, so that may account for the hazy look. Almost an aroma, weak cereal sniff, some yeast too (maybe). Gets my standard 3 for pilsner/lager non-smelling beers. It had a pleasant taste and feel to it, a good mix of flavours and I found it interesting as well. The beer had some body, unusual for a lager. Even though I was not happy to find this was brewed in the UK I enjoyed this ’premium lager beer’ as the front label calls it. I also was not happy when I had ’Bangla’ another fake exotic location beer from this brewery, but I liked that one too!

Draught. Frothy off-white good mostly deminishing head. Dark amber colour. Moderate malty and hoppy aroma. Moderate bitter flavor. Long moderate bitter finish. Creamy palate.

Tap @ The Rake. Nice head with good duration. Color is brown. Aroma and taste are soy, roast malt, caramel and hops. Oily palate.

3rd December 2011
ChrisOs Early December Tasting.Clear gold beer, decent off white head. Light dry palate. Light dry lagerish malt. A little sweet aniseed. Mild dry fruits. Dry finish. Passable.

Bottle from Beers of Europe
Amber...clear...large frothy white head...good lacing
Aroma - Caramel malts...some sweetish toffee....slight floral notes....light spicy hops...hint of berries 7
Taste - Caramel malts...toffee...light bitter spicy bit grassy hops...very light fruits...mellow flavours...slight cake mix....emphasis on the malts
Palate - soft carb...thin to medium body...smooth...light sweet caramel. Finish as main flavour with some more bitterness...cleans well
Overall - A reasonably good pale ale...nothing outstanding...flavour a bit restrained for the abv but what’s there is pleasant....nice easy drinking

Bottle 500ml.Clear medium to dark red brown - amber colour with a average to large, frothy to creamy, good lacing, mostly to fully lasting, off-white to beige head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, wood, spicy, light to moderate hoppy. Flavour is moderate to light heavy sweet and bitter with a average to long duration, caramel, burnt toffee, tobacco - wood, coal notes. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft, finish feel is light metalic. [20120114]

(Cask at White Horse, Parson’s Green, London, 26 Nov 2011) Dark brown colour with hints of ruby. Frothy beige head. Malty, roasted nose with notes of dark bread, roasted malt, nuts, coffee and chocolate. Malty, roasted taste with dark bread, caramel, crisp-bread, raisin, biscuits and a slightly bitter-sweet finish. Medium body, with a touch of sweetness. Well balanced and quite tasty. Nice one.

Bottle 330ml @ gunnfryd
Pours hazy golden with a white head. Aroma has notes of malt, grain and caramel. Taste is medium sweet and light bitter. Body is medium, texture is thin to oily, carbonation is soft.