Bottle from Burg Bieren. Dark brown colour, tan head. Aroma of caramel malts, some fruits and spices. Flavour is caramel malts, toffee, spices, some fruitiness. Meh.

50cl bottle. Pours amber with steady bubbles and a decent head. The nose has toffee, hay and nettles. The taste has more toffee, more hay and a more pronounced nettles note. The palate has medium structure and texture with a nice clean finish. Overall this is a good session ale that I could drink a few of.

50cl bottle. Pours amber with gentle bubbles and a decent head. The nose has toffee and biscuits. The taste has biscuits, hay and some grapes. The palate is medium to large in structure and texture and there is a nice fresh finish. Overall, a nice balanced session ale.

Bottle from Waitrose. Pours lightish copper with a foamy beige head. Sort of a malty apple aroma. Med minus body. Flavor is malty and bitter. Seems just a bit gummy. Drinkable, but not to die for.

Small offwhite head. Clear amber body. Light fruity spicy caramel aroma with earthy musty notes. Dry-sweetish musty earthy caramel taste with spicy wooden notes. Mid-bodied. Mild, soft, slightly slick mouthfeel. Dryish spicy floral caramelly aftertaste with wooden notes. Nice, drinkable, sort of average. (0.5l cask at Coach and Horses, Barnes, London.)

Cask (handpump) @ GBBF 2010, Great British Beer Festival, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, England.Clear medium orange amber color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, toasted - caramel, nutty notes, light to moderate hoppy, orange - citrus. Flavor is moderate to light light heavy sweet, light light malt sour acidic and moderate to light light heavy bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily and sticky, carbonation is soft to flat. [20100804]

Bottle. Sweet sticky toffee and hay aroma. Clear dark amber color with small head. Sweet sticky toffee and moderately bitter hay hops flavor. Medium body. Nice - a sweeter bitter.

Bottle. Deep brown with a coat of beige head that disappears. Aroma of singed toffee, nuts, stewed fruits, a meadow. Taste has stewed fruit, toffee, chocolate, some floral/ herbal note. Rather flat and thin - bottle says brewery conditioned, not bottle conditioned - and not quite mouthfilling. Nice spiced chocolate finish. Suspect that bottling has ruined this.

Originally rated March 2010. New at the LCBO and my first for Hogs Back Brewery. Comes with a rubber seal (like the ones found one wine bottles) but with a cap underneath and best before 17JAN11. Pours a golden-amber, almost orange, colour that is clear, but with lots of minuscule particles all over. Average off-white head that disappear slowly and leaves a bit of lacing. Not much carbonation, except for the big bubbles stuck to the bottom of the glass and a few coming up to surface, from time to time. After shaking the bottom of the bottle, lots of slightly bigger particles come out and the beer gets a bit hazy. Very light aromas with some bready malt and a little hop. The mouthfeel is quite silky and smooth. A little bitterness goes through the taste, but it is that hop which I do not really like (because it taste rusty). Has a beautiful mild maple syrup that comes out in the aftertaste though. Hints of citrus and grass. Not bad overall, but had better bitters from England.

29th January 2008
Slightly frothy beer. Thick and somewhat bitter malt. Some brandy notes in the finish. A bit of an effort to drink.