Original rate August 2013. Re-rated July 2017 at the Sir William Peel. Light brown colour. Easy aromas of wood, grass, with some medicinal astringency. Taste is earthy sweet, tinged with bitter and sour. Classic pint of English bitter, but revisiting it it’s relatively basic.

2013 vintage in a 500ml bottle from Beers of Europe. Ruby chestnut with little or no head. Aroma is sweet fruity. The flavour is also sweet with dried fruit and burnt treacle. The alcohol has a big hit.

Hand-pulled pint in the Batemans Visitor Centre on Sunday 25th June 2017. I believe this is a blend of Batemans Gold and Batemans XXXB, been told that anyway, by a couple of people: if it is, it’s not 50/50. Amber bodied, white, lasting crown on top. More Gold than XXXB in aroma and taste, it fact I didn’t take to it very much. Refreshing enough after three pints of Everards Tiger in a pub beforehand, but nothing special and not as good as I hoped for.

Cask (handpump) @ Kings Arms, 22 Hall Road, Norwich, Norfolk, England NR1 3HQ. [ As Batemans Kings White Crown ].Clear dark red brown colour with a small to average, fizzy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, roasted, dark fruit, light chocolate. Flavor is moderate sweet with a long duration, dark malt, dark fruit, chocolate notes. Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is flat. [20150804] 5-3-6-3-11

Deep brown color. Very earthy with tons of wood and cherries. Low modest bitterness. Verynfocused around he malt backbone. Well put together but not that interesting

Bottle at home. A strong aroma of coffee on opening the bottle and a nice head I the tankard. Very strong flavour of coffee and an intense sweet flavour of chocolate. I was surprised that this was a dark bitter and not a porter or stout, but there was no real flavour of beer and the whole thing wasn’t really integrated for my tastes. A worthy experiment, but not one I particularly enjoyed due to the sweetness.

Handpull cask at the Castle, Cambridge. Light to mid-gold with a white head. Fresh grassy aroma with a soapy yeasty note often found in Batemans. Tastes pretty good actually: bittersweet with persimmon, lemon peel, a touch of TCP. Long bitter finish with light tomato notes. Unusual and has something moreish about it.

Decent.