Barngates Tag Lag

Brewed by Barngates
Style: Bitter
Ambleside, England

Serve in English pint

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Bottled, pasteurised, 500ml from Booths Supermarket. Amber coloured with a huge, difficult to control, head. After the difficulties of pouring and thus finding the aroma the beer is fairly decent, strong darkish malts dominate with a modicum of hops. Bitter throughout and dry on the finish, reasonable for a bottle.

Bottle from Ambleside Wines. Pours a dark yellow, clear with no head. Powerful aroma of ginger and brown sugar. Very bitter taste with a big bitter finish. Strong hops. Some bread. A little fizz on the tongue. An impressive, well balanced ale.

[500ml bottle, Booths, Preston] Golden pour, decent fluffy white head. Rising carbonation - looks very much like a pint of lager. Bitter malt aroma, some floral hop. Not much sweetness on the taste - bitter pale malt flavour, slightly acidic bitter zesty finish from the hops [23122011]

Bottle from Booth’s, Ilkley. Pours distinctly orange gold with a well-retained, tight drum of foam draping the glass. Muted aroma leaking through; orange peel, varnished tables, chalk, distant armpit, nut oil. Full and mouth-filling with a clean, simplistic flavour; soft water washing over caramel-slicked stones, light spruce and resins, strong finishing bitterness. You can taste the huskiness of the malt as if you were actually chewing it.. The fullness and greasy, nuanced condition of a hand-pulled cask pint: bonus point. Utterly unremarkable and yet an utterly pleasurable experience...great beer like great beer when you hardly even notice it’s there. Bog standard northern English bitter...with knobs on. Actually pretty bloody good.

@ Punch Bowl Inn, Crosthwaite. Golden coolour. Fresh, spicy, leafy hop aroma. Herbal and dry with lots of appetizing bitterness. Lightly earthy, toasty balancing malts.

Cask @The Punch Bowl Inn. Dark warm gold, clear, with a thick head. Lovely aroma--the freshest I’ve smelled in a long, long time. Wasn’t brewed far from here, but smells like it was brewed right before my eyes. Worty but not in a young way, just a pure clean bitter, healthy malt aroma that is too rare. Smooth. Not hugely flavorful, meaning it doesn’t knock you over the head, but the freshness makes each sip a joy. I would imagine this is as much due to the exceptional condition of the beer as to the beer itself. Very strong malt backbone. Finishes dry. Eminently pleasurable.

Bottled (bought at Utobeer, London). Golden colour, small head. Aroma is fruits, some wood, mild zestyness as well as some mild cardboard. Flavour is fruity and floral hoppyness as well as some slight herbal notes as well.

Cask, Carlisle BF. Superb pale copper coloured beer. Beautifully smooth and well balanced, with just a hint of bitterness and some subtle fruit.

Copper with a white head. Musty hop aroma. Taste is spicy, nutty and citric with a background hint of Weetabix. Strong bitter finish. Very good for a bottled bitter.

Bottle from Booths Supermarket. A tasty beer considering it is not bottle conditioned. First bottles were hazy, but more recent ones are polished and very clear. A good bodied bottled beer from this excellent small brewery linked to the Drunken Duck near Ambleside.

A Mes rate: gravicask at the Bricklayers.
Clean dark gold with a slim but stable white head and excellent condition. Good spicy and herbal hop aroma with some balancing sweet, yet earthy malt. Strong earthy malt flavour with some slight tangerine and nuts. Refreshingly fruity with a really pleasant dusky, citric finish and a lasting bitterness. Palate is spot on for the style. Really enjoyable and drinkable.