Adnams Southwold Bitter (Cask)

Brewed by Adnams
Style: Bitter
Southwold, England

Serve in English pint

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UPDATED: AUG 8, 2004 A solid session beer with plenty of hoppy bitterness and a refreshing bite when on top form. The very wide distribution this beer enjoys these days means that it is not always served in the peak of condition. If you want to sample Adnams at its best, go to Southwold, where it is brewed. Is it my imagination, or is this a little darker than it used to be, perhaps even with a hint of fruity malt on the finish? Generally, however, peppery hop is the dominant characteristic.

Beer Engine: cloudy brown orange with a HUGE frothy foam, not just persistant, more like Stonehenge. . .crazy barnyard aroma, amazingly musty and natural, great yeast - sour and tart, very interesting and complex, almost like a gueuze. . . lingering sourness that keeps the palate wet and makes me want more.

UPDATED: APR 9, 2005 [Cask at GBBF 2003] A clear nutbrown beer with a small bubbly head. The aroma is very faintly malty. The flavor is very nicely hoppy - a lot of aroma hop in the flavor. It ends on a dry bitterness. A nice bitter - reminds me of an IPA.

Tap from Blackfriars in London. Copper color. Very much a session beer as nothing dominates. A little hops, a little malt, a little fruit. An okay beer, but nothing to remember.

UPDATED: JAN 18, 2006 Cask Conditioned at the George Inn, Borough Market. Thin flavourslightly acidic vinegar, not well kept.
Re Sampled at The Woolpack, Banbury, Jan ’06
More like it, sampled in tip top condition at a meet the Brewer night. Dry long bitterness, plenty of flavour with a great hoppy finish. Good session bitter.

Balance with thinish body and low diacityl. Hops to be only used in the bittering stage. Pretty straight forward real ale. Balanced a little on the bitter end.

Filled to the brim by the bartender so no head. It doesn't look like there would have been one anyway. However, it does leave a few spots of lace with each sip. Slightly darker than apple juice's color. Mild in both flavor and aroma. A typical bitter only with a stronger apple presence. Slightly watery in texture. Pretty much forgettable.

Cask: I had this in the "Sherlock Holmes Pub" just off Tralfager Square. They have renamed it for their establishment as "Sherlock Holmes Fine Ale". It pours a slightly amber color. The aroma is somewhat faint, but you get both malts and hops in it. The taste is slightly bitter at first, followed by a good maltiness. Very smooth.

Plenty of oakiness and fruit tones in the aroma. Deep copper tones with very little head. Evident buttery background which is quite tasty, malts are there, but the hops compliment appropriately. A nice "beer-y" quality ... sort of quintessential characteristics. A decent bitter at an old pub near Trafalger Square.

UPDATED: JAN 7, 2004 pretty simple but very tasty bitter, when on form the hops are really big, peppery and earthy. nice sulphury stench. a good fallback on cask. rer8 for "george ale": drank this on a beaten copper table, so I can say with some authority that this wasn't copper colour, even though that's precisely the colour people think of when they look at this sort of beer. anyway. as if anyone cares. you wanna know what it tastes like, right? and if it's any good? tastes a lot like adnams bitter - but thinner and tangier. still has nice earthy hops but they're toned down in the flavour. fairly bitter though. not the greatest, although could be due to dodgy beerkeeping - see my review of J.W. Lees Ruddy Glow.