Brown 500ml bottle, best before Apr 2008, drank March 2007. Neck label tells me it is the official beer of, 08 Liverpool European Capital of Culture. Poured into a Gordon’s thistle glass (twice). A dark ruby red, sparkling. clear looking body, with a small light brown head, which sadly disappeared far to quickly, to leave next to nothing worth calling a head. Burnt caramel and malted barley aroma, but nothing special. For a 5.0% brown the flavours just weren’t there, fizzy Newcastle Brown taste is the best I can come up with. The rear label states it has a fruity and complex character, I couldn’t detect that at all. Fairly dry aftertaste, but with a metalic feel to it. As the beer warmed a little (in the second pour), I started to enjoy the beer more, but it is still a long way from a really good brown ale in my opinion.

Bottle. Deep golden colour with an off-white head. Aroma is fruit, malt, raisin. flavour is fruit, malt, raisin, hop, citrus. Medium to thin body. Boring beer.

Total Wine & More, Chantilly 14.9 oz can ($1.50): Pours a dark yellow with a white head. Aroma is typical lager smell, grass and a bit of hops. Taste is predictable and bland. It is easy drinking enough and a few steps above your run-of-the-mill pale lager, but not by enough. A disappointment.

440ml can from Tesco. Mid brown with a thin white head; musty malt aroma; thin with a sweet malt flavour; and a caramel malt finish. Drinkable, but not on a par with the bottled 2.8’s at Tesco.