Subsidiaries
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
Bottle at home in London - picked up at the brewery. Pours deep ruby with a thick, creamy tan head. Lots of pine in the aroma, some lightly toasted bread, dried orange. Medium sweet flavor with heavy, juicy berries, more toasted bread, some grapefruit, sticky toasted sugars, hints of caramel, oily pine. Medium bodied with average, velvety carbonation. Finishes sweet with plenty more juicy, oily pine, more ripe citrus, some grassy bitterness, sugary bread, slight minerals, mellow alcohol warmth. A bit darker than I prefer my IPAs but this one does together pretty well. Quite drinkable for its strength.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Mar 2014
at 11:41
7/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
Bottle at home in London - picked up at the brewery. Pours clear, amber-gold, highly effervescent with a large, billowing light tan foam head. Lots of ripe fruits in the nose, berries, some bread, toasted caramel, prunes. Medium sweet flavor with ripened and lightly dried out fruits, especially berries, some currants, dry toffee, bitter earth and pine, toasted bread. Medium bodied with average, massaging carbonation. Lots of sticky sugars and resinous hops to finish, with further piney bitterness in addition to some crunchy leaves, more dried berries and bready malt backbone. Fairly tasty stuff though certainly not and American style IPA. This is sort of like the love child of an English Strong Ale and an IPA. Not bad.
Tried
from Bottle
on 17 Mar 2014
at 11:21
6.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
15th March 2014
Hazy deep amber beer, big pale cream coloured head. Palate is softish and airy with fine carbonation. Has the same creamy malt sweetness of the Dapper. Light sweetish orange fruits leads to a fair amount of bitterness. Finishes smooth. Not bad, but whereas the malt worked great in the Dapper, here it is masking the fairly recessed fruitiness of the US hops.
Hazy deep amber beer, big pale cream coloured head. Palate is softish and airy with fine carbonation. Has the same creamy malt sweetness of the Dapper. Light sweetish orange fruits leads to a fair amount of bitterness. Finishes smooth. Not bad, but whereas the malt worked great in the Dapper, here it is masking the fairly recessed fruitiness of the US hops.
Tried
on 16 Mar 2014
at 04:53
7.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 7
15th March 2014
Hazy deep amber beer, good pale cream coloured head. Palate is fairly dry with fine carbonation. Starts with a pronounced creamy malt sweetness, nice light caramel underneath. Touch of ripe orange before a pretty robust bitterness kicks in. There is a light floral note and a whisper of well buried apricot but it’s mostly bitterness, bordering harsh. Finishes smooth with a very strong bitter linger. Interesting experiment. The sweet creamy malt is well judged and keeps the beer drinkable and that sharp bitterness in check. Nicely thought out!
Hazy deep amber beer, good pale cream coloured head. Palate is fairly dry with fine carbonation. Starts with a pronounced creamy malt sweetness, nice light caramel underneath. Touch of ripe orange before a pretty robust bitterness kicks in. There is a light floral note and a whisper of well buried apricot but it’s mostly bitterness, bordering harsh. Finishes smooth with a very strong bitter linger. Interesting experiment. The sweet creamy malt is well judged and keeps the beer drinkable and that sharp bitterness in check. Nicely thought out!
Tried
on 16 Mar 2014
at 04:50
7.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
33cl bottle from the brewery and drunk at home. Clear deep amber colour with a lasting beige head. Malty toffee sweet aroma. It’s labelled an Imperial London Bitter. It’s very sweet on the aroma. Quite hoppy on the finish mind you. It’s pushing the limit of an ESB for the ABV, but I’d go with ESB. It’s not a million miles from Fullers ESB except for being a bit sweeter and more caramel/fudge led. Decent. Bit too sweet for me. My hands are covered in fresh Basil though. I liked it. Poised. The bitterness on the finish doesn’t let the sweetness wander all over the place. Yep, I liked it.
Tried
from Bottle
on 10 Mar 2014
at 13:53
6.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
At the brewery. It pours clear amber with a small white head. The nose is wood, earthy, caramel, raisin and candy. The taste is caramel, woody, light fruitiness, decent bitterness, resin and earth. Medium body and average carbonation. Decent enough, but the other Bermondsey breweries do this style better.
Tried
from Can
on 02 Mar 2014
at 10:29
6.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
At the brewery. It pours cloudy amber with a small beige head. The nose is caramel, pine, earth, citrus peel and sherbet. The taste is toasty, brown bread, earth, spice, decent bitterness, pine and a metallic twang with a dry finish. Medium body and average carbonation. Alright stuff.
Tried
on 02 Mar 2014
at 10:26
6.1/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
Bottle picked up from the brewery. £3.50 is pretty steep for buying at the brewery, especially considering the likes of kernel and Partizan are £2.50. Aroma is sweet toffee, soft mineral and berry hedgerow hops.I don’t get much american hop underneath all that caramel malt. Clear rich red amber colour with a lasting beige head. Quite attractive. Flavour is caramel, toffee malt, solid piney hop with a slight lemony finish. Alxohol is quite present, bit of an alcohol bite in the finish. Some mixed fruits in the mid palate. Palate is quite sweet, rounded medium body and average carbonation. Overall too much cara malt gets in the way of the hops.
Tried
from Bottle
on 24 Feb 2014
at 14:12
6.2/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottle from the brewery and drunk at home the following day. Hazy dark amber colour with a thick lasting beige head. American hop aroma. It’s a decent American style IPA. Little bit of toffee. A touch of diacetyl maybe. Decent mouthfeel. Some bitterness on the finish. OK, but needs work. Oh and the diacetyl needs to fade as well.
Tried
from Bottle
on 16 Feb 2014
at 13:31