Cask at CPK - Pimlico, London. Pours deep brown with a slight, creamy tan cap. Good beer on the whole, nice bitter roast, subtle dry chocolate. Light to medium bodied with fine carbonation. Sweet finish, moderately roasty, light earthy bitterness, dry cocoa. Good stuff.
Earlier Rating: 5/27/2013 Total Score: 3.4
Cask at CPK - London. Pours dark brown with a creamy, tan head. Light tangy dark malt nose, hints of chocolate, some lacto zip. Light to medium sweet flavor with lightly bitter semi-dark chocolate, moderate roast, some charcoal and ash. Medium bodied with fine carbonation. Fairly sweet to finish, lots of dry and bitter char, some baking cocoa, burnt sugars, earth, subtle charred beef. A little rough at the edges but a decent beer overall.

Cask at the Cask, Pimlico, 07/06/13. Very dark mahogony brown with a thin light tan head that dissipates edgeward. Nose is roast malt, brown sugars, espresso notes, chocolate. Taste comprises woody notes, roast coffee, light chocolate, demerara sugar, roast malt backbone. Medium bodied, moderate carbonation, light roast in the finish. Decent enough stout.

Cask at CPK - London. Pours clear brown with a frothy tan cap. Lots of smoke in the nose, BBQ rub spices, apple wood. Light sweet flavor with heavy, campfire smoke, dry wood, more rubbing spices, some leather. Light bodied with soft carbonation. More dry, super woodiness and campfire smoke to finish, apple, earth, leather, dry-rub spices. Interesting but really just doesn’t come together.

Cask (gravity) @ Cambridge Winter Ale Festival 2013, at the University Social Club, Mill Lane, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England CB2 1RX.Clear dark black brown color with a small, frothy, virtually none lacing, fully diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, roasted, chocolate, coffee. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration, chocolate sweet, coffee bitter, roasted, pepper notes. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to flat. [20130119]

Cask @ 29th Pigs Ear Beer and Cider Festival 2012, at The Round Chapel in Hackney, London, England.Clear medium amber red color with a small, fizzy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, berry, wood, alcohol. Flavor is moderate to light heavy sweet and light moderate bitter with a long duration, wood, alcohol, sharp. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is flat, finish feel is light alcoholic. [20121204]

Cask (gravity) @ Cambridge Winter Ale Festival 2013, at the University Social Club, Mill Lane, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England CB2 1RX.Unclear medium amber orange color with a small, fizzy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, caramel, moderate to heavy hoppy, grass, grapefruit, orange - citrus, sweet hops. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration, sweet hops, citrus, caramel, light grassy. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to flat. [20130119]

Cask @ 29th Pigs Ear Beer and Cider Festival 2012, at The Round Chapel in Hackney, London, England.Clear dark brown color with a small, fizzy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, cacao, vanilla, artificial, light chocolate. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and light to moderate bitter with a average to long duration, vanilla, artificial, cacao. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is flat to soft. [20121204]

Cask at the Sussex Arms, Twickenham Green, 13/04/13. One of those strange ones ... Murky copper / rusty brown in colouration with a thin off white head that clears to a swirl and the edge of the glass. A looker she is not - reminds me of the canal you cross on the railway line at Kidsgrove or for those unfamiliar with the vageries of Staffordshire waterways ... like a festival toilet on the last day! Nose is pretty thin with little coming off, malty, light medicinal notes, touch of fart. Taste comprises dark malt, big smokey notes, light peat, TCP, touch of dark fruit and some background hops, herbal qualities. Medium bodied, moderate carbonation, dry in the finish. Looks shit, smells of nothing, strangely drinkable. I’m not sure this is how it was intended to be, I’d certainly class this one as smoked as much as anything else!

Cask at the Holborn Whippet - London. Pours murky brown with a wimpy, creamy cap. Dusty cocoa in the nose, some bread, ripe bananas. Medium sweet flavor, light semi-dark malt tang, subtle metal notes, more dusty cocoa, some ripe fruits. Medium bodied with fine carbonation. Medium sweet finish, some semi-sweet chocolate, suggestions of mashed bananas, further metal, light earth. Really just does not come together, and there are a few off notes. A pity, as I was excited by the name.

cask at earl of essex ... hazy copper ... thin white lacing... soft sweet roast ... light rye nose ... light smoked malts... light treacle ... floral fruits