Adnams East Green Carbon Neutral

Brewed by Adnams
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Southwold, England

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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500ml bottle. Dry and thin with straw and dried cow poo aroma with hints of Ruddles and GK IPA (Boadicea is a Challenger type hop - Challenger is used in Ruddles and IPA). Not a lot going on here in the bottle, but may work better in the cask. More like a lager than an ale.

Two 500ml brown bottles bought for me by my daughter when visiting Adnam’s home town of Southwold. Both best before 5th April 2009, drank in bright and warm sunshine on 26th July 2008 in my garden. Poured into one of my Hannen Alt tumblers (2 and a half times per bottle). Light amber in colour, clear and bright, like the weather. The foaming white head didn’t hang around on any of the pours from either bottle. Almost looks like a Dort in appearance. The aroma was weak, but the beers were cooler than I would normaly drink bitter at. A hint of citrus fruits, but not a sour smell at all. Boadicea hops are used, but I couldn’t detect them in the aroma or taste. Not your typical English Bitter that’s for sure. This is a bit zesty and dry, the citrus feel in the aroma is also present in the taste. Not the greatest Adnams beer, but an interesting if somewhat lightwieght addition to their stable. The mouthfeel is a bit watery and there isn’t a great ammount of body or substance to this brew. I would never have guessed it was 4.3% in strenght. This is what some would call a ’lawnmower’ beer.

Bottle. Light golden color, small head. Slightly skunky nose. Grainy, some malts. The taste is lightly malty, somewhat sweet. Thin body. Active carbonation. Lager-like. Overall, not a great beer. I love the idea of a carbon neutral beer, so big commendations for that.

Malt and a little banana on the nose. Metallic taste, over malt with a light hoppiness. Like an inoffensive malty lager.

Bottle: Grainy, light bready aroma with hints of hops. Golden color. Flavor is also grainy, light hoppy and with a light bitter finish. Boring.

Rating from an old notebook. Bottle. Golden. A sweet malty beer with some apple juice and little hop. Other than the silly gimmick this is much like any other below average British bottled golden bitter.

Bottle from Tesco. Looks the part, very underwhelming. More of a pilsener than a golden ale. Reminds me of a mass produced German pilsener. Not for me.

Bottle, bought @ Budgens, Belsize Park, London.
Paleish golden with a small, frothy, off-white film head. Aroma has mild metal, apples, malts, fine grassy and some woody notes. Medium carbonation,fine dry and light creamy palate. Flavour is mild, rather inoffensive, malty sweetness with a light but firm grassy bitterness. Quite fine, but not exceptional.

Adnams is a brewery, winery, distillery and a chain of hotels on England’s east coast. Their beers used to be available in the United States, but disappeared off store shelves several years ago. They recently contacted me to sample some of their beers as they are considering selling their products on our side of the pond again. Here’s the first of the six reviews:

I poured a 500ml bottle into a Victorian nonic pint glass.

Appearance: Crystal-clear gold color with plenty of carbonation, initially. Forms a small, bright white, frothy head. Unfortunately, it doesn’t retain or lace that well. Beer looks like a macro lager.

Smell: Very little aroma with a slight grassy note and perhaps a bit of macro lager funk. A hint of lemon gives me something to look forward to.

Taste: This is a mild beer to say the least. British pub-style session ales like this usually have at least some flavor, but AEGCN is quite bland. The first thing I notice is how watery the palate is. On the backend I get a quick kiss of grassy hops and a mild lemon citrus taste. It actually reminds me of an extremely cold macro lager, although I doubt this beer is brewed with any adjuncts. There’s nothing particularly off-putting about the palate aside from its lack of genuine flavor, although I do notice a slight sourness that intensifies as the beer warms.

Mouthfeel: Thick, soft, wet, and watery. Not crisp like a lager, but clean as one.

Drinkability: A very quaffable beer and a brew that would be a great choice to drink en masse on a hot summer’s day. The bland body almost demands to be paired with snacks to make it work as a refresher, otherwise it drinks like a lager without the crispness (been there, done that).

Overall, there’s nothing really special about this beer. Although it is interesting how such a small traditional British brewery made a beer so similar to the big boys.

NOTE: Watch the video version of this review at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEBgZH7BaEQ

Bottle on 28/1/11. Lager like colouring. Grass and straw in the nose. Citrussy taste with a slightly bitter finish. Thirst quenching and one for a sunny day though just an average beer.

Bottled. An amber beer with a thin beige head. The aroma has notes of matl as well as lighter notes of straw. The flavor is sweet with notes of malt and straw as well as lighter notes of flowers. Thanks yespr for sharing.