3.3 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Cask conditioned - gravity dispense - Coventry BF. A copper coloured beer with a pretty decent smoky aroma. Quite meaty to the nose. The taste is far less smoky and there is some light hoppiness. Pretty unfulfilling with good things merely hinted at.
3.3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
Cask (gravity dispense), St Albans Beer Festival, September 2007. One of the several specials made by Alehouse for this festival. Gold colour. Can’t say I detected much smoke in the aroma at all. A little more in the flavour but still not very rauch. What there was on the palate was a nice fresh, flowery hop character. Nice but not really what you expect from a rauchbier. Consequently, it is a bit difficult to know how to score this. Smooth mouthfeel.
2.7 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 11/20
Cask@St Albans BF. Quite and flat, without anything n the finish to lift the flavour. It has some bacon juice type flavours, with some light grassy hops. The palate is really dull, and the finish is weak. Not really on par with the better german equivalents. Not the worst smoked beer i’ve had, but not very good.
3.2 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Cask gravity at St Albans BF 2007. Gold beer with thin bubbly off white head. Some smoke and bacon on aroma. Decent stab at a rauch. Still a bit too much like a bitter. But the smokiness is pretty authentic. Fairly close to something like a Spezial Rauch than a Schlenkerla.
3.9 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
A Mes rate:
Unusual top spike cask at St. Albans beer fest. Lovely clean gold colour with a thin white film. Loads of hoppage in the aroma. Slight ginger and delicate smoke but it is clearly there. Tiny bit buttery but it’s not a problem. Flavour is more of the same but the smoke is a little more pronounced and rather excellent. Lovely hoppage again and some delicate malt for some balance. Unexpected citric lemon in the finish. Best English smoked beer by a good margin. Had another half on the second day from a different cask and it was clearly different and not quite so good but I enjoyed this half so much this one is getting the nod.
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