Appearance: Brown-red, good amount of head. Aroma: Fruity. Taste: Smooth and fruity. Info: 500ml bottle, 31/8-2005, 7/300, 4/500

500ml bottle picked up at a shop in Maldon (Essex, UK) and enjoyed at a summer party in Tromsø. Amber body colour with a creamy, white head. The coolness of fruit and flowers dominate the aroma while the flavour has got hints of hop resin, blood oranges and grapefruits on a malty background. Mild, but lingering hop bitterness to the ending. Well bodied, cool mouthfeel and filled with summer feelings (14.06.2008).

Bottle at home ... amber ... sweet slightly cidery slitly musky hop nose ... candy sweetness... really juicy tartness ... little sry in linger ... lots of citrus flavours ... and really quite tasty... The one thing i didnt like was it made a big fuss about how enviromental there brewery was and that they use 34% less glass in the bottle... and then they put it in an unneeded cardboard box just so they can charge more.

Cask @ Wenlock Arms. Clear amber with tiny white head. Sweet fruity aroma with caramel notes. Fairly sweet flavor with notes of apples and caramel. Ends sweet.

[Cask at the Coopers Arms, Reading] I disliked the bottled version of this beer, finding it far too bitter for my palatte, and it was with some trepidation that I ordered a pint on draught. However, as seems to be the case with Adnams, the cask version is a totally different animal to the bottle; a different ABV, and a very different flavour too - one does wonder how they can sell it under the same name. It pours a deep, handsome orange/brown, with a good, lasting, cramy head and - thankfully - little carbonation (I’ve always felt that English bitter is ruined by excessive carbonation). The initial taste has a good bitter hit, but unlike the bottle this is not overpowering - soon some earthy and leafy hop flavours emerge. The bitterness quickly mellows as you drink more of your pint to reveal the familiar, reassuring Adnams maltiness. There’s a surprise in the tail end - woody flavours come through, followed by a smooth, warming, comforting, caramel-and-butter finish that leaves a soft mouthfeel. Overall I rather enjoyed this - it’s far better than the bottled version, with a decent depth of flavour for a low ABV bitter. However, it’s still not up to the other main Adnams brews (ie Broadside and Explorer) in my opinion.

500ml bottle from Tesco. Pale, clear gold in colour with plenty of carbonation but no head. I am another who struggled to enjoy this beer. The aroma had some muted sweet malt and lemony hops. The flavour was thin with some biscuit malt giving way to a short, bitter finish and a strange lime opal fruits after-taste. One was quite enough.

[i] [b] Bottle, picked up at Tesco, Bicester, Oxon had this 29-05-08 [/i] [/b] Pours gold with a white head, I don’t wish to dampen what I believe to be a good idea, but this beer was rather forgettable, bit thin and aside from some biscuity malts and a slight sharpness I really struggled to put pen to paper. I applaud Adnams for what they’e doing on the eco front but I hope that they start putting a bit more effort into their next venture as this was more flavour neutral than carbon neutral.

Cask at the Market Porter. Light fruit and citrus? aromas. Tarnished gold color with a frothy white head. A bit less than medium body with smooth carbonation. Swear there’s ginger in it. Finishes lightly sweet, not quite balanced by the ginger? spice. Some kind of hottish spice - pepper? Good.

Hazy brown with tiny off white head. Sweet fruity with roasted malt, caramel and liquerice. Mild hoppy finish.

[500ml bottle from Tesco’s, Reading] A great moment for me - by typing up this beer I’ve finally got all the beers from the spreadsheet I’ve updated over the last 6 months onto this database! And this was a decent beer to celebrate with - it claims to be the first carbon-neutral beer in the UK, and I’m not about to argue with a company that has turfed over the roof of its admin building and organises regular litter collections on the local beach! However, it does mean that this beer is a (very) few pence more than the others in their range. A large white head quickly dissipates leaving a dark golden beer with a soft yet mouth-tingling carbonation. Aroma and initial taste is the classic Adnams maltiness tempered with overtones of orange. A refreshing bitterness creeps gently in, but on the whole this is sweeter than the other beers in the Adnams range. A very easy drinking beer (couldn’t believe how fast the bottle vanished!) yet one that leaves behind a warm comforting feeling. I love Adnams beers anyway, and this one seems to be one of their best yet. Clearly the whole environmental drive has not been at the expense of their product, so nice one guys!