Draught. Vinous aroma. Copper colour, small white creamy head. Creamy, citric fruity flavour. Aftertaste is a little watery with OK bitterness.

Deep brown body, thin tan head. Bitter, roasted, rather acrid aroma with notes of baker’s chocolate. The body is oily, slick, and dominated by bittersweet chocolate with roasted malts, earthy hops, and dark fruit touches. English in spirit, but similar to high ABV American chocolate stouts too. I’m glad this isn’t in a larger bottle, though, as the beer is quite rich.

(Bottle 50 cl) Clear, pale amber colour with a fine, creamy head. Nice, hoppy, floral nose. Rather light in body with weak notes of nuts and roasted malt. Weak, bitter finish. Surprisingly high carbonation. 240705

Why do I continue to try hoppy British beers when I know I dislike English hops? I should enjoy everything about this beer - the grapefruit and bready malt - the piney, grassy flavor - the lingering sweetness - but those damned hops - I can only describe their character as "soggy" and "stale," if that makes any sense - they almost completely destroy my enjoyment of the other aspects of this beer - maybe I’ll learn my lesson this time.

Cask conditioned at NERAX 4/28/2005. Didn’t have any toasty malt, or as much body/caramel as I would think an ESB would have. It seemed much hoppier and fruitier than a golden ale, with an amber tint to it as well and no huge amount of pale malt apparency.
Golden-amber colored beer, with no head. Fruity hops aroma with an oranges and mint flavor, and a light bubblegum-flavored finish. A bit of sweet malt throughout, with a solid medium body and moderate carbonation and bitterness.

On cask NERAX 4/27/2005
Yellowish-copper color, small white head, fleeting. Very clear. Aroma of light yeast and malt, bit of mustiness. Very soft on the palate, with notes of buttercream and a low hops apparency. Medium-light body. Some odd/off yeasty, bready flavors in there.

With a name like this how could I not try it. Sampled from a 16.9 oz brown bottle this beer poured a thin black color with a small brown head. The aroma was dry chocolate and light hops. The flavor is dry, smoky and has strong dry chocolate notes. It is more thin and watery than I would have liked and I found the smokyness getting to me. Overall not really my style of beer in any regard.

On nitro January 2005 at Redbones, listed as Ridgeway Foreign Extra Stout, but this is most likely the culprit. Unfortunately it was not listed as being on nitro, so I was unpleasantly surprised when they served me the glass. Oh well, I’ll try not to let my bias get in the way. Typical, boring, nitro pour, medium tan, creamy head atop a dark brown-black body with light mahogany tints. Dull aroma, some moderate roast and bittersweet cocoa and brown sugar. Flavor, for a nitrogenated beer, is not terrible. Perhaps one of the better ones I’ve had. Plenty of roasted malt bitterness, oily/watery feel. Brown sugar, some yeast and charred wood notes. Light notes of tart cherries on the finish, with some smooth milk chocolate. I bet this beer would be wonderful with CO2. I’d like to rate it without taking the nitrogen effects in to account, but no one forced the brewer to make this a nitrogen beer. Would gladly rerate a non-nitrogenated sample.