Half pint from the cask at the Snooty Fox, Three Bridges. Pours amber with a white head. Aromas & tastes of caramel, grain & malt. Moderate body. Smooth finish.

Cask at Hogarths, Stafford – though I have drunk it several times in the past. Pours “bitter brown” with a sizable (but transient) off-white head and good lacing. The aroma is surprisingly fruity with oranges, bitter hops and hints of plums. In the mouth it fluctuates between sweet and bitter. Fruits are evident in the flavour too with malts, bananas, pear-drops and some hoppiness. Traces of orange and toffee come through later leading to a fruity and slightly dry finish. This is decent – much better than I was expecting.

Eher trockener, stark malziger Beginn. Zunehmend Kaffee, trockene Bitterkeit, äußerst geringe Süße, mittellanger Abgang. Süffig, schnell vergessen. 11/8/10/8/7/8

Morland Old Midnight Hen

The ‘golden ale’ counterpart to Morland’s Old Speckled Hen, one of those famous old-timey English pale ales, launched in 1979 for a car factory and now – like this one – produced by Greene King’s. Tapped at Ma Cameron’s, the oldest pub in Aberdeen and a lovely place in my experience. Snow white, creamy, dense, tiny-bubble, medium sized head on a practically clear, deep golden robe with pale orangey tinge. Aroma of pronounced melting butter (diacetyl), barley porridge, pear peel, apple blossom, raw sweet potato, moist white pepper, plaster, wood glue and a whiff of damp cellar in the background. Restrainedly fruity onset, some green banana, unripe peach and vague persimmon, soft effervescence with very slick and creamy, ‘buttery’ body, the diacetyl effect continuing in the mouth but not unpleasantly so – at least if you can appreciate its presence in these British cask ales. Cereally finish gently yet efficiently bittered by floral and grassy hops, not harshly so, but enough to be quenching. Stereotypical and straightforward golden ale doing what it is intended for – an easy drinker of humble but pleasant flavours.

Cask at Old Wheatsheaf. Frimley Green. Clear golden-brown. Foamy off-white head. Aroma is malty with a bitter edge. Light-medium bitter. Earthy. Chewy. Twiggy. Tart berry edge. Underlying malts. Light-medium bodied. Slick. Soft-fizzy carbonation. Long dry slightly astringent finish. Chewy but ultimately unexciting.