The old (19th century) Thwaites brewery’s take on American IPA - interesting things often happen when an old school English brewery brews an IPA the American way. From a 33 cl bottle, strange to see this particular volume in an Anglo-Saxon context. Irregular, milky, egg-white head, moussy and dense on the edges and leaving a thin greyish veil over the liquid; colour a clear orangey amber with slow fizz. Aroma of ’dank’ American hops indeed but rather subtly so even though a total of six varieties have been used; I nevertheless get ’American’ impressions of pine needles, pink grapefruit, overripe mango, roasted onion, toasted bread, hints of roasted pine nuts, Scotch on the rocks, chicken spices, cigarette tobacco, caramel. Clean, crisp and restrainedly fruity onset, dried red berries, orange peel, subduedly sweetish with some hop bitterness already creeping in at this stage; minerals too, soft carbo lending it an ’English’ feel, very supple and lean body based on a light caramelly and pronouncedly nutty and toasted maltiness, supporting the bitterness in the finish, which is to be described as herbal, citrus peel-like, a wee bit piney but most of all peppery. Still, this hop bitterness, though clinging to the mouth cavity like an oily film, fails to become as deeply bittering as your average American IPA: it is somehow tempered, leaving most of the toasted, bittersweet maltiness to pass through. A spicy hop bitterness sure remains in the end, but I expected a bigger dosis based on the deScription "intensely hoppy" on the back label. Seems like a compromise between the boldness of real American IPAs, which may still be too harsh to the average European palate, and the original hoppy pale ales from England - i.e. the ’roots’ of the old English IPA meeting its modern American offspring. If you look at this beer that way, this is truly interesting and enjoyable for what it is. Almost seems like a time machine brought American hop varieties to the English pale ale brewers of the late 18th and early 19th century... In short: a decent, quenching, flawless EPA with a strong American twist. And if you look at the historically inspired label and the intentions of this beer, I’d say mission accomplished. Whether this is an American- or English-style IPA is undeterminable, so we have the same stylistic problem here as in Belgium, where some, but not all, of the new Belgian IPAs use American hops in order to come as close as possible to the ’real thing’. But I digress.

33cl bottle. BBE 31/12/2015. Pours murky brown with a thin off white head. Molasses, sweetness, dark bready malty aroma. Flavor has mild citrusy notes, tangerine, dark bread and syrup. Thin body for his abv. Too sweet for me. Simple.

Bottled. A red beer with a lazing beige head. The aroma has notes of over ripe fruits, caramel, and hops. The flavor is sweet with notes of malt, fruits, and spices, leading to a bitter finish. Had expected a lot more.

33cl bottle from SuperAlko, Tallinn. Pours deep golden with a thin white head, low carbonation. Aroma has butterscotch, citrusy notes and some floral notes. Flavor has butterscotch, citrus and the same floral thing. Feels thin. Lightly hopped, not much sign of Citra and Chinook here.

bottle ambrata limpida buona schiuma discreta persistenza sentori agrumati resinoso disctreta nota maltata bilanciata da un buon amaro però non molto fragrante

Bottle consumed at Cropredy, Fairports Annual Reunion Festival 2015 Friday 14th thanks to Pluckett for this. Golden in colour in this pour light, a sweet shop boiled sweet taste, middling hoppiness, touch of dusty hop, some bitterness, quite drying. Fine. A6 A4 T6 P3 Ov12 3.1

From tap. Pours clear and golden amber with a small off white head. Aroma is grapefruity and peachy. Toasted malt base. Bitter, toasted and slight fruity. Bitter and dry hoppy finish.

Bottle from morrisons. Golden colour with a white head. Citrus and soft fruit aroma with a decent bitter finish. Nice enough.

Can. Morrisons. Clear, coppery amber. Film of lasting, off white head. Juicy, tropical fruit action. Decent malty backbone. Some banana toffee. Taste is well balanced sweet and bitter. Medium body. Soft carbonation. Finish gets juicy bitter, with a light dry close. Factor in the £1.65 price tag on top of a very decent beer and it makes one I’ll definitely have again.