Cask-conditioned at the Bag O’Nails, Bristol 07/07/2012. Hazy gold with a slight white head. Aroma of orange peel and coriander with a touch of clove and yeast. Flavour was sweet, with some grainy malts, more herbs, spice and a slightly bitter finish. A good English interpretation of the style.

Cask-conditioned at the Bag O’Nails, Bristol 07/07/2012. Deep copper in colour with a slight, off-white head. Sweet, caramel and red berry aroma with plenty of leafy hops. Flavour had more toffee and red currant sweetness, with a dab of citrus before a pleasantly bitter finish. Good.

Bottle at the CBC Tune-Up Tasting, London. Thanks to Paul. Pours dark brown with a fine, bubbly tan head. A bit less roasty on the nose than the porter, but it has more chocolate in the flavor. Some peat and earthy bitterness. Medium bodied with fine carbonation. Mild roasty finish with some tobacco, earth and chocolate. Well-made stout.

Bottle at the CBC Tune-Up Tasting, London. Thanks to Paul. Pours brown with a fine, beige foam head. Mild dust roast aroma. Medium sweet flavor with light dirt and dusty cocoa. Medium bodied with fine carbonation. Lightly drying on the finish, with more dusty roast and cocoa notes. Nice and standard, though the character is still pretty solid.

Cask@Reading Beer Festival 2012. Golden colour, small white head. Aroma is fruits, caramel and some mild wooden notes. Flavour is fruits, freshly cut wood, mild resiny notes as well as some herbs and nuts.

3rd April 2010
Kings Head, Norwich. Light brown clear beer. Low carbonation, semi dry palate. Nutty with a very light touch of chocolate. A little lactose and a trace of glue! A peep of hop fruit in the finish. Not bad.

Cask (handpump) @ Guildford Arms, 1 West Register Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH2 2AA.Clear medium amber orange colour with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, toasted, light to moderate hoppy. Flavor is moderate sweet and light moderate bitter with a average to long duration, malt bitter, sharp, dry. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to flat. [20120423]

Jan 2009: Brown 500ml bottle containing an English Wheat Beer, a rare beast indeed. Drank 7 days before its BB Date, I think I should have opened it when it was younger because it disappointed me. It also may be that this isn’t a true Kristal and I should have rolled the bottle before opening, to allow everything in the bottle to come out. Poured into a Franzinkaner Weissbier glass it looked the part. Crystal clear (there was some sediment in the bottom of the bottle though) and Golden Yellow in colour. A thin white head soon became just a wisp and collar, even though bubbles were rising up through the beer, just like a normal German wheat beer. I love the vanilla and banana esters given off by most Weissbiers, this didn’t have those qualities. The only aroma I found was of cereal and grains, even those were weak. Refreshing enough, but it lacked a true bite and any character worth mentioning. I had high hopes for this beer, sadly it was thin impersonation and lacked body. As I said at the begining, maybe it is better younger or with the sediment in the glass.

Brown 500ml bottle, 5 days out of date (best before End of Nov 2008, drank on 5th Dec 2008). Poured into a Westmalle Chalice and the rest into a Palm tulip, it had yeast within (bottle conditioned), so I had to pour in one go. Really deep, dark brown/black in colour. A small tanned head soon became a collar and wisp. Burnt toast, coffee, dark chocolate and tarmac all came to my nose along with a Peat Bog Fire aroma. Very dry and bitter, the toast and smoke from the Peat Bog fire come through in the taste. A bit thin for a 5.0% Stout, very little body. The rear label mentions wheat as an ingrediant, that might explain the lack of a deep feel to the beer. Overall not bad, but I was expecting a little more from this beer.

From 2007 (BA): My second beer from this fairly new craft brewery, this 500ml brown bottle was best before March 2008, it was opened and drank in December 2007. Posh art work on the front label, basic information on the rear label. This is a bottle conditioned Pale Ale and I allowed the sediment to leave the bottle and enter my pint sleeve glass. I poured the beer aggressively to produce a head, sadly no head appeared. However on a more possitive note, the floating lumps of yeast settled to the bottom of my glass quickly. The aroma was very sweet, a toffee apple smell. Difficult to pin down the flavours, the beer seemed to go flat very swiftly and its condition appeared to be poor. Mixed fruits (apples and pears) and a good tangy bitterness. My score of 3.5 is maybe higher than it should be, but I enjoyed the taste even though the appearance began to waiver. The mouthfeel and drinkability were both OK . I will have to try another because I am sure this beer was not at its best on this occassion.