Ballards Thin Ice

Formerly brewed at Ballards
Style: English Strong Ale
Petersfield, England

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

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Bottle at home. Deep reddish amber - still, zero head. Caramel and toffe on the nose, but with a slight blue cheese note as well. Cloying mouthfeel that’s slick rather than smooth. Sweet, port-esque flavour but sorely lacking complexity. Very disappointing.

Great label! I’m going to drink this cool as well as mulled per the guy at the store who sold this to my buddy somewhere out of London.
Pours a hazy reddish brown, a decent amount of sediment, good spotty lacing. Drinking it at a cool temperature: Aroma: Gueuze, sour, tons of yeast, sour cherry, this is no barley wine... piney hops, licorice. Taste: More of the same, medicinal herbs, burnt sugar, phenols, rotting apricot.. this is barely beer. Mulled: Smells like hot, spoiled sweetened apple juice. Taste: Mulling this does not help it but it does dull the flavour. More malts and some caramel but still better cold by a long shot.

Bottle (275ml) shared with HogTownHarry & garthicus -- c/o HogTownHarry. Pours a murky, oily looking, dark orange-brown with no head. Aroma of caramel malt, toffee, nuts, dark fruit and alcohol. Flavour follows the aroma but is a bit astringent and quite boozy. Full bodied, slightly oily mouthfeel. Not bad, interesting.

Brown with no head. Dried fruit, toffee aroma. Sweet and malty flavour with dried fruit, toffee and chocolate notes

Shared by HogTownHarry with Blankboy and I. Appearance: Dark golden orange almost brown, no head. Aroma: Creamy, alcohol, malt, toffee, herbal and spices. Nice. Flavour: Brandy, wood, sticky mouthfeel, malt, apples, spice and nuttiness with a smooth finish. Nice!

Bottle (275ml). Shared with blankboy and garthicus - bought at UtoBeer in Borough Market. Hazy brick-red, tiny frothy head. Slightly sour boozy aroma - nutty malt. Taste is alcohol strong, nutty, muddy maltiness - I like it, green fruit. Slick, still, boozy mouthfeel, acidic finish - like a Gales - I like it.

Bottle @ chriso’s Pre-GBBF Shindig 2008. Pours a slighlty hazy amber color with a small off-white head. Has a fruity malty dark fruit aroma with some hints of licorice. Dry malty licorice and dark fruit flavor. Has a dry malty dark fruit finish.

Bottle 27,5 cl. Courtesy of yespr. Hazy orangey golden with a tiny, rough off-white head. Intense aroma of nuts, wood and old cheese. Quite full-bodied with absolutely no head, notes of nuts and tart fruit. Somewhat astringent finish. 190209

Bottled. A hazy amber beer with no head. The aroma is sweet mlaty with notes of alcohol and over ripe fruits. The flavor is dominated by over ripe fruits.

Botella. English rating no. 300. Dark brown colour. Sweet dark fruity and malty aroma. Good mouthfeel. The flavour is sweet with dark fruits, caramel, deep maltiness and some alcohol.

27.5 cL bottle. Pours hazy deep orange to brown with a small white head. Dry and overripe fruity with a solid dense caramel malt note and alcohol. Thick mouthfeel. Mouldy, dense fruity and off malty flavoured. Utterly strange yet different and interesting. Sour and roasted finish, dense malty.