Barngates Chesters Strong & Ugly

Brewed by Barngates
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Ambleside, England

Serve in English pint

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Cask conditioned at Sands, Grange over Sands, Cumbria. Gold amber colour with thin head. Nasal alcohol note precedes a dry thinnish body, again a dose of caramel in the body as with the other Barngates beers. Short perfumed close.

Medium Amber in colour with a thin beige head. Smells of nutty malt, alcohol and honey. Creamy light thin body. Slight sweet start, caramel and a bitter dry malt finish. Very common ESB.

First tasted this at the Paisley Beer Festival in May 2002. Cask, gravity dispense. Clear dark mahogany in colour with a thin buff head. Strong malty aroma, rich in intensity. Creamy mouthfeel and good lacing. Dark malts gives roast grain note which leads to a biscuity toffee malt flavour. Strong note of syrupy raisins and overipe figs. Slight bitter taste from the hop resins but this disappears quickly as the finish is sweet and malty. An excellent example of an English ESB and well recommended.

Bottle. Bronze with bitterness dominating. Medium body with a reasonable presence. An above average bitter.

500ml bottle, courtesy oh6gdx, best before 9 November 2010, tasted in January 2010. Clear red colour. Some smoky notes in the aroma. Mainly malty. Dryish on the palate. More toasty malt. Decent stuff. Roasty bitterness in the aftertaste.

Bottled (from Utobeer). Deep amber colour, small beige head. Aroma is caramel, some bready notes, mild fruityness and also berryish notes. Flavour is fruits, wood, some slight berryish notes as well. Quite sourish wooden/berryish aftertaste with mild bitterness as well.

Dark amber with an off white head. Nutty sweet malt aroma, rather rough and attractive. Earthy, slightly vegetal taste, like a raw chestnut. Strong rather woolly bitterness. Obviously, with its unpromising name, this beer tries to make a virtue of its slightly challenging character. I see what they’re doing, but I can’t honestly say I liked it very much.

gravicask @ ealing bf 08. not much aroma, malty with a bit of cedar wood. red amber colour, big bubbled beige head. Dry, very bitter, slight herbal finish and nothing...

Cask at the Ealing beer fest. Aroma is a nutty brown ale, with some floural honey. Taste is similar, grassy floural character in the finish.

UPDATED: OCT 23, 2006 Cask Stillage at the Civic Hall, Nantwich 26/09/2003 Mid brown amber coloured beer with some alcohol present. Some sweetness and slight dryness in a malt finish.