Archers Marley’s Ghost

Formerly brewed at Archers (Evan Evans)
Style: English Strong Ale
Swindon, England

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

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Gravity cask @ Hants Bowman Dundridge. In some respects much like an average bitter. But as I drank sweet almondy alcohol aromas begin to unfold. A delicious and drinkable stong ale that creeps up on you.

Cask conditioned, aged 8 years at The Royal Oak, Wantage. Burnished orange amber with white head. How this cask had survived so long is anyone’s guess, but what a beer, full, fruity, Christmas pudding flavours with all the spices. Rich on the palate, but with still a lingering sweetness to develop further. A real treat, if only Archers had stuck to beers of this quality they would still have been around.

Cask, The Crown Xmas Fest, Nuneaton. Dusty red amber with a slender halo. Peach, dried apricot and sticky sultana aroma. Wood and mazipan presence with good hop bitterness to balance. Husky pale malts, medicinal cherry hints, Peach Soothers. Tropical and stone fruits. Drinkable, lean and good at the strength.

Cask (gravity) @ The National Winter Ales Festival 2008, Manchester, UK. Clear medium to dark yellow / golden color with a small, fizzy, fair lacing, fully diminishing, off-white to white head. Aroma is light to moderate malty, roasted, fruity, light alcohol. Flavor is moderate to light heavy sweet and bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is flat. (170108)

A Mes rate: Gravicask at Manc Winter Fest.
Rich dark golden brown with a slight white rim. Aroma of marzipan, angel cake, fruity banana notes (yes Fin) and some really sweet alcohol. Flavour follows on nicely. There is plenty going on here. The banana turns more pineapple and there is a lovely warm alcoholic finish. British beers with this much alcohol can often taste like paint stripper but this is really well done.

Cask at The National Winter Ales Festival, Manchester 18-01-07 A warm almost orange coloured beer with good clarity. Was quite surprised to see an Archers beer at this strength as more used to seeing a 1001 different versions of something around 4% from them, still back to the beer in question. There was a bloody good depth of flavour to this beer, ok so the alcohol wasn’t always that subtle but there was an awful lot else going on, I found plenty of tasty tangy fruits in there along with a surprising banana element amongst some other tropical stuff, and occasionally too much sweetness nonetheless I rather enjoyed this and would look out for again quite happily.

Handpump at the Turf in Oxford. Pours a deep gold with a lasting white head. Aroma is sweet with a fair amount of spicy hops, earthiness and alcohol. Body is med. with fair CO2. The flavor is rather one-dimensional. Fair amounts of alcohol and earthy hops yet rather flabby. Sweetness becomes a bit cloying after a while. Could use a fair amount more bitterness to balance all the sweetness.

UPDATED: JAN 2, 2006 Cask handpump at the Swan in the Rushes, Loughborough. Dark golden colour with a slim white creamy head, good lacing. Sweet, malty and fruity. Full bodied and surprisingly drinkable; as in, I was surprised at how easily several pints were downed.

Cask conditioned - handpump - OG’s Wellingborough. Darker than pale golden. This is a good strong English Winter beer. Not complex and not a hop monster, but beautiful sweet fruity malts and full bodied strong alcohol. A sipper rather than a guzzler but very enjoyable.

UPDATED: OCT 16, 2006 Cask Handpump at the Beer House, Manchester 17/01/2004 Amber golden coloured and hoppy with some alcohol. Very fruity with some dryness and bitterness in the malt finish.