2.8 AROMA 3/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
Straight from the Cask at the Burton Winter Beer Festival on Sat 29th Jan.
Clear Golden Colour.
Quite a "farty" smell off this. Dry, wheaty, hoppy. Quite sharp but developing into quite a decent beer in the end
2.8 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
Clean amber colour. Rather murky, dull, bready malt aroma. Dry palate with a reasonable balance of malt and hops, but this was really just too soft for my taste. Not too impressed. Cask, GBBF 2004.
2.5 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 10/20
Cask@GBBF04’. Butterscotch, too start (not a good start), dries out a bit, becomes grainy. Pretty thin and boring, next.
2.5 AROMA 4/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 10/20
Cask conditioned - no sparkler - Malt Shovel Northampton. A disappointment as I’m sure I remember this as a full tasting bitter with some good caramel notes. This beer seemed madly conditioned as there was a big creamy head in spite of the dispense. The colour is very light. There are buttery notes in the aroma and the taste is very bitter but also yeasty. Must re-rate next time I drink it.
3 AROMA 4/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
[Cask at GBBF 2003] An orange beer with no head. The aroma is very slight but has notes of hops, malt, and fruit. The flavor is nice; a malt sweet fruitiness with a good fruity hoppiness rolling along the side of the tongue and lingering. It is a little cask flat, but it has a good palate. A good beer.
4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Sampled on draught in several of the Bathams pubs. A fine, golden coloured specimen perfect for quenching a summer thirst. The slightly sweet after taste is not everyone's cup of tea but a finer example of an ale brewed in the preserved Black Country tradition is hard to find.
3.3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Draught at The Vine, Bull & Bladder (Brewery Tap)Brierly Hill. Light golden yellow with a fluffy white head. Sweetish and smooth with plenty of fruit character turning late to hops. A refreshing decent quaffing bitter.
3.1 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
Bottled. Straw gold with moderate head and good condition. Muted hop and malt aromas, suggestion of fuggle hop character mingled with malt flavours. Soft finish with a good level of bitterness.
3 AROMA 4/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 4/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
UPDATED: DEC 31, 2009 Sept, 2002Cask, The Bull and Bladder Brierley Hill in the Black Country has an extra-ordinary reputation in the UK. Alongside the road is a famous stretch of canal with a series of nine locks allowing barges to climb (or descend) the hill. But it is the five pubs along the road that attract the interest of drinkers. And the one that has acquired an almost legendary status is the one named The Vine but always known as The Bull and Bladder. It carries an inscription from Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona across its exterior: "Blessings of Your Heart, You Brew Good Ale." This pub is the brew-tap for the Batham brewery - family owned since 1877 - and the best place (one of only 26) to sample Batham’s Best Bitter. This is a refreshing and very smooth bitter - very much in the Northern England style of bitter. A crisp hop aroma and a good fruity body. Fresh and tasty though it is I am not a fan of smooth frothy bitters and so didn’t rate it highly. However the old style pub with it’s maze of small rooms had a wonderful atmosphere. [2.7]
New Years Eve, 2009Vintage Bottle - 1989 Soft and fruity - very drinkable - slight exotic fruit notes, mango, pineapple and rusty. Few hops. This is not a complex beer, but is very easy drinking and enjoyable. [3.3]
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