6.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Typical end of fest notes: Fruity-hoppy and complex. .....................
Tried
on 25 Aug 2002
at 20:53
6.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
Roasty aroma with notes of cigarette smoke? and cola? Weird. Anyway: Large tan pitted head. Very dark red-brown. Good retention. Rich full mouthfeel, rather malty. Light coffee and roasted malt flavors. A little sharp in the finish.
Tried
on 18 Jul 2002
at 09:38
5.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 5
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
Dark ale; beautiful head. Light malt aroma. Too much carbonation; roasted malt and coffee; a bit metallic. Average palate, pretty long. Not convincing.
Tried
on 01 Jun 2002
at 04:37
5.9/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 3
Flavor 6
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Amber ale, nice head and lace. Unpleasant aroma. Nice taste, not too rich, fruity, some very light malt, nicer bitterness and hop aroma. Good palate, but with some metallic notes.
Tried
on 01 Jun 2002
at 03:31
7.3/10
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Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7
Sampled cask conditioned. Golden coloured. Softly malty, medium bodied, very bitter finish. A very good bitter.
Tried
from Cask
on 05 Apr 2002
at 03:42
5.6/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 5
Flavor 6
Texture 4
Overall 5.5
Sampled cask conditioned. Copper coloured. Very flowery aroma. Sweet, somewhat fruity and medium malty. Slightly salty, bitter finish. Rather one dimensional. This is a bold bitter, quite flavourful, but exactly very subtle, and IMO too sweet.
Tried
from Cask
on 04 Apr 2002
at 02:35
7.1/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Amber coloured. Big malt profile, complex, balanced & tasty! ..............
Tried
on 01 Feb 2002
at 02:57
6.4/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 7.5
Contaminated bottle? I poured less than 1 inch into an 8 inch tall glass, and the whole glass filled with thick foam - even a heavy dollop of creamy foam remained to the end. Sour in a funky Belgian way, almost like a gueuze - even with an almost horsehide aroma. Is it trying to be Belgiany or was it unintentional bacteria? I think the latter, from a beer that otherwise won a CAMRA gold medal - which leads me to believe it would normally have a more British taste. Sour as it was, it wasn’t bad - mildly refreshing, not cloying and easily finishable for a full Imperial pint bottle (of course, I’d just driven 9 hours, after a week of racking up almost 2000 miles...I would have drunk nearly anything). Re-rate: Tastes like classic Britsh ale! Caramel and pumpkin pie on the nose with floral hops, perhaps orange blossoms. Slick palate, very sweet, could use more hops. Burnt orange color, very low carbonation, thin but lasting head.
Tried
from Bottle
on 28 Dec 2001
at 22:27
7.8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Liked it bottle-conditioned in 2001 (3.4) and I like it better on cask today. @ Old Green Tree, Bath. Golden with a thick head. Generously hopped and bitter, woody with light citrusy notes. Assertive and dry, bitter, with a slightly minerally finish.
Tried
from Bottle
on 01 May 2001
at 21:39
5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 5
Flavor 5
Texture 4
Overall 5
What an odd beer. Very buttery at first, followed by some firm malt flavours (bread and toffee) but this all disintegrates into a confused finish where a bunch of elements make cameos but none sticks around to give us a real sense of what this beer is all about.
Tried
on 06 Feb 2001
at 23:57