3.8 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 17/20
Hand pulled pint at the Crown Inn, Oakengates Dec 2011.
Golden, light amber body with an off-white head on top, doesn’t give much lacing but tried to stay the course.
Aroma of citrusy hops and an undercurrent of mild malts.
The Beer is brewed using Pearl Pale Malt, Crystal Malt, Wheat Malt, Challenger Hops and Golding Hops. The taste is hop bitter foremost, but not overly hopped, those malts counteract the hops nicely.
A good, easy to drink beer, I like this breweries beers but rarely see them in my neck of the woods.
2.3 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 3/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 10/20
A - wheat and light citrus
A - light with thin clinging head
T - light sour
P - thin
O - unmemorable
2.9 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
First tasted this in the State Bar, Glasgow in December 1995. Cask, handpump dispense. Crystal clear gold in colour with a thick white head. Citrus fruit notes in the short aroma. Thin watery mouthfeel and good lacing. Pale malts deliver a citric fruit note of lemon drops, gooseberry and barley sugar. Aftertaste is dry with dusty floral hops. Finish is bitter sweet edging on the tart side. Ok session golden ale but better examples out there.
3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Cask @ Hoopers Bar, Camberwell. Lovely golden colour with thin head and some lacing. Aroma is sweet with citrus and honey coming through. Taste is grassy with hops and malts towards the end. Finish is dry with good aftertaste.
3.7 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Cask @ Hoopers Bar, London, SE5. Lemon and light sulphur nose with notes of cream.Lacing, cloudy yellow amber. Dry citrus taste with mild sweetness. Nicely balanced with some vanilla. Small gripe is the thinness of the beer but nonetheless this is so dry and poised that it reminds me of a good white wine. It is complex in the aftertaste.
3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
Cask at the Old Mitre, Holborn, London.
Nice, smotth, hoppy bitter. A fine session beer, there is nothing particularly Christmassy about this.
3.6 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Handpump at the Wellington Arms, Bedford. Beautiful golden colour with a small off-white head. Faint floral hoppy aroma, redolent of distant summer meadows. A pleasant light sweet-sour taste followed by a slight bitter finish. The Christmas logo and release date is presumably an arcane brewer’s joke.
3.8 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
Cask Handpump at the Penny Black, Northwich (JDW) 26/11/2002
Golden and hoppy with some citrus aroma and a slightly dry malty finish.
3.2 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
Not very Christmassy. As SilkTork says, it’s more in the golden summer ale style that what you’d expect for a Christmas offering. The aroma is rather modest - some grassy hop and a touch of dry malt. There’s an initial sweetness on the palate, but that’s soon overtaken by a moderate citric hop bite developing into a lasting dry bitterness the aftertaste. If anything a touch acidic and tart. The body is a touch thin. Reasonable, but fairly standard fare and certainly not what I was expecting. Cask (handpump) at Lord Moon of the Mall (JDW), Whitehall, London.
3.1 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
Dec, 2002: JDW, Hemel Hempstead. A golden summer style ale (which is odd, given the Christmas name). Very mild tangerine tang. Light body. Very much in the style of a lager. Not impressed. [2.0]
Dec, 2004:JDW, Folkstone.Clean, white lilly, fresh and pleasant summer beer. This would be so much better released in the summer. [3.1]
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