6.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Cask at The Barton Arms beer festival; clear light copper pour with thin bubbly white head, fruity aroma, taste has stewed fruits, caramel and and a malt backbone.
Tried
from Cask
on 04 May 2014
at 04:22
6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Cask-conditioned at the Gryphon, Bristol 1/3/2014. Golden in colour with a slick of white head. Sweet, stone fruits and caramel, somce cereal mlats and a moderately bitter finish. Inoffensive drinking.
Tried
from Cask
on 03 Mar 2014
at 11:31
6.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 7
Texture 8
Overall 6.5
Dark brown with a bubbly head. Dark liquorice and toffee character. Hints of raisins and dark sugars. The body is light but the sugars provide some fullness of palate. Good mild.
Tried
on 14 Feb 2014
at 19:20
7.9/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Every year on the last working day before Christmas my ex-work colleagues and I meet up with the current staff for a beer or three at ’Codsall Railway Buildings’ a lovely Holden’s owned bar in a converted railway station. This beer is always our last one. I only have a hand-pulled half-pint because I’ve already had enough booze by the time the ’last drink’ arrives. It’s a cracking brew, deep dark brown in colour with a lightly tanned head. The aroma is wonderful, sweet malty molasses with toffee and raisins mixed with chocolate and nuts: almost like a gaseous ’Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut’ bar. The taste follows the smell: sweet, full on and malty. There is however a slight hop bitterness in the background at all times and this beer is more complex than just another strong ’barley wine’ type beer. Full bodied and a delight to drink.
Tried
on 05 Feb 2014
at 10:11
7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7
bottle from Tuckers Maltings. Deep brown, beige head. Malty start with lost of toffee, caramel and also dried fruit such as dates, figs, raisins and also some nuts. A delicious winter beer.
Tried
from Bottle
on 28 Dec 2013
at 11:59
7/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7
On cask at Derby Tup, Chesterfield - Gold colour, moderate head and condition. Honey and apple aromas mingled with a citric hop nose. Honey and sweet malt in the mouth with more delicate hopping and a good hop bitter finish.
Tried
from Cask
on 26 Dec 2013
at 13:10
5.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 5
Texture 6
Overall 5.5
Cask @ Post Office Vaults. Cool and light palette with lemon and citrus elements. Underwhelming, inoffensive beer.
Tried
from Cask
on 18 Nov 2013
at 07:27
6.2/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6
Cask gravity at the Watford beer fest 2013. Golden colour with a light haze, loose white head. Aroma is sweet sugar, faint apple. Flavour is nutty caramel malt , berry. Fair.
Tried
from Cask
on 07 Nov 2013
at 14:05
6.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 6
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Cask at The Great Western during the RateBeer Black Country Bus Bash. Pours clear gold with a light, foamy white head. Sugary dough character with light wet hay and faint grassy bitterness. Light of body with fine of carbonation. Sweet finish with hay and sugary dough. Simple.
Tried
from Cask
on 06 Nov 2013
at 02:26
6.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 5
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 6.5
Brown 500ml bottle, best before the end of Dec 2010, drank and reviewed 25 Oct 2010. I somehow missed bringing this across with me from BA. Poured into an ’Abbots Ale’ tankard, my current favourite UK pint tasting glass. Light amber almost orange in colour with a white head that soon became a collar and lacing as the beer sank down the glass. Mild malty aroma, fairly weak, even as the beer warmed. A malt sweetness is evident initially in the taste, a hop bitterness however soon arrives to let you know this is a well balanced true English Bitter (not a Pale Ale as listed). The alcohol content is fairly high for a UK bitter, hence the ’special’ in the name. The 5.1% ABV is well hidden and the beer is easy and pleasant to drink.
Tried
from Bottle
on 01 Nov 2013
at 02:44