Cask @ Trades Club, Hebden Bridge. Clear golden with a head. Has a clean and smooth texture with a bitter-sweet taste - it's certainly a bitter in style, with a developing aftertaste in this respect.

Cask at Crown, Nantwich. Pours a bright copper with a small frothy off-white head and gooc lacing. Malts are the mainstay of the aroma, plus traces of biscuits and caramel. In the mouth it starts off sweet, but some underlying bitterness soon comes through. Flavour has a mix of malts and traditional hops pus traces of fudge, nuts and summer fruits. Bitterness lasts into the finish. This is a reasonable old school bitter – I may of liked it more if it hadn’t been served so cold.

28/12/2023. Bottle shared by danlo, cheers Ed! Pours clear pale golden amber with a small bubbly white head. Aroma is buttery, caramel, biscuit, straw, light fruits, blackcurrant cheesecake, touch of ashtray. Quite bitter, with moderate sweetness and body. Average carbonation. Not particularly enjoyable.

500ml bottle from local shop. Golden colour, thin white foam head and aroma of toasty malt, grain, fruity. Taste is sweetish, malty, bready, biscuit, straw, with hint of blackcurrant and tangy citric bitterness. Medium bodied, medium carbonation, drying metallic bitter finish. Quite drinkable.

Cask at Old Vic, Preston. Pours golden brown with a small off-white head and good lacing. There’s nuts and malts in the aroma plus hints of pine. Slightly sweet at the start in the mouth, with maple, nuts and malts. Later on it becomes more bitter with traditional hops and traces of autumn fruits. Bitterness lasts into the finish. This is reasonable if not particularly outstanding.

Bottle at home in Hackney - picked up from HOTM. Pours totally clear yellow-gold with a soft, pure white foam head. Lightly sweet with pleasant crunchy pale grains, bit of British yeast, straw, earth, white bread. Light bodied with fine to average carbonation. Pretty well balanced in the finish, pale biscuits, dirty bitter straw. Nice one.

500ml bottle from Mainsgill Farm Shop - opaque black body with no head. Plummy nose with some roasted notes, rich plum flavour with some vineous undertones. Decent quality.

Bottle. Lewis and Cooper Northallerton. Says it’s a New World Pale. It’s not really. Pretty malty and slightly buttery. Some slightly sharp leafy hop. Bittersweet overall. A bit flabby. Sharp bitterness to finish. Standard stuff.