2.7 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 10/20
Can. Reddish colour. Some sweetness, caramel. Clear. A decent ale from Preston.
3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 12/20
Pours golden with a bit of copper. Healthy amount of carbonation. Solid malt profile with a bit of caramel. Good flavor, balanced. Hops in the finish but not overly bitter, but I couldn’t nail any specific flavors. Fairly clean mouthfeel. Overall pretty good.
3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
354ml bottle. Copper colour. Light bitter taste. Dry body. Overall, a classic English ale.
3.5 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
Pours deep copper kettle colored. Aroma is vague wet hay with a bit of sugar mixed in. Initial contact on lips has a stale sensation, unpleasant but disappears quickly. Following has nice balance of malt, and caramel on taste. A suggestion of hops on finish. Mouthfeel is really good, bit of velvet and rounded edges. Biggest criticism is weak aroma.
3.2 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 13/20
Bottle at Cafe Buitenlust, Oirschot. Not much to tell about this beer, pretty decent, but also very standard bitter.
3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
On tap. Too dark in the bar to get a good gauge of appearance but it was darker than i expected. Bittersweet smell that came through on taste as well. Lots of carbonation.
3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
Draught at The Foreign Exchange in Cincinnati, OH. Clear copper color with a thin persisting head, leaving nice full sheets of lacing. Soft but strong carbonation, dry texture. Mild bitter taste. Drinkable and refreshing.
3 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
Sweet malt forward, with roasted malt taste, and a bit of hops to round things out. Lighter in body than most ales. Glancing at the other reviews, I guess I am an outlier in detecting roasted malts, so maybe it is actually hops that mimic what I think of as a roasted malt taste, but when I drank it I thought "roasted malts", so that’s what I’m typing in the review. Stylistically, this isn’t really want I think of as a pale ale, closer to an amber. However, the label claims it’s been around since 1777, was consumed by such luminaries as Napoleon, and is the world’s first pale ale. So, assuming all that’s true, maybe it’s the American craft pale ales that have the style wrong, or maybe Bass has changed it’s formula and/or brewing process over the years. I’ll leave that to the beer experts to debate. History aside (Which does seem to be impressive), this is a decent enough beer. At an import price, I’d usually rather go with similarly priced craft selections, which are usually better beer, but I do think this brings something different to the table and was happy to reach for one or two of them at a recent gathering.
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