Black Sheep Riggwelter (Bottle)

Brewed by Black Sheep
Style: English Strong Ale
Ripon, England

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

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UPDATED: APR 8, 2009 Oct, 2002 Brewed by Paul Theakston, the black sheep of the Theakston brewing family, in the old Lightfoot’s brewery that the Theakston family had bought up and closed down many years earlier. Black Sheep beers are bold and uncompromising.
This is a good dark brew. It has some of the dark twisted rooty taste of a stout, but with the sour fruit tang of a porter. A good old fashioned English ale. There is an interesting hop bitterness dancing around on an ever elusive malt body. There are chopped mixed nuts - some hazlenuts, some walnuts, some pecan - and assorted fruits - banana, fresh apple, grapes. There is toffee, caramel, licorice, some herbs and spices. There is enough going on to keep up interest to the end. And all this in a surprisingly refreshing body. The strength can quickly catch up with you - no wonder that damn sheep is rolling around cheerfully drunk! [3.4]
April, 2003 Compared with Bombardier. Dark hazelnut colour. Broken, thin, clinging nicotine cream head. Sweat yeast aroma - wet leather with a hint of cabbage and some creamy toffee. Quite complex and yielding. Stout like, roasty malt - burnt fruit cake. Fairly consistent, though occasionally a vanilla tone comes through. A dark, almost devilish beer - leaning in the roasty direction of a stout. The strong dark flavours stand up well to the pasteurisation process.[3.5]
Dec, 2006 Blind tasting with Old Peculier, Strong Sufolk and ESB. 2nd place. Dark amber colour. Frothy carbonation - some long lasting cappuccino foam. Aroma is fridge ice, vanilla, coffee, roasted barley, rubbery plastic, raspberry jam and nappies. Noticeable bitterness - lingering after the finish. Roasted barley and English hops. Burnt chocolate. The bitterness makes this stand out. A tasty, strong English ale. [3.2]
April, 2009 Strong, dark beers stand up well to being poorly processed. This is a damn good drink. Lots of flavour, pleasantly presented. I’m accep

Aug 2006 from BA: Dark Ruby Red, with a thick creamy coloured head which I poured into a Palm Tulip glass, this allowed the flavour and aroma to stay in the glass more than if I had just poured into a normal British pint sleeve glass. Burnt Malt and Hops come to the fore in the smell. The taste is strong on malt, but not overpowering, a slight fizz, but not gassy in any way. The throat holds the flavour (if you let it) and the mouth feel stays, this is not a watery beer. Very drinkable and must be tried with Wensleydale Cheese, they come from the same valley in Yorkshire.

Refrigerated bottle poured into a trappist glass. Pours translucent medium brown with small beige head. Little lacing, medium/light body, medium/low carbonation, and molasses aroma. Taste is roasted malt, a little molasses, and a finishes wee bit dry light bitter. More complex as it warms.

Bottle shared at home tasting. Ruby brown pour with an off white head. Aroma of sweet malts fruit and caramel. Same aspects in flavour with a medium body and low to medium carbonation.

50cl bottle shared by Kermis. Creamy white head. Clear amber pour. Nice beer. Malty aftertaste

500 mL bottle from Beers of Europe into a pint glass. Dark red/brown with a foamy head. Roast, malt and hops blend, unusual but attractive. A little roast, fruitiness, yet dry and surprisingly complex. A particularly good beer from Black Sheep.

Great British Brew. Not too lasting, but there is rich dark malt. I’m pretty sure there’s mollasses in here, but I have no idea what they are or what they taste like, sounds right to me though for some reason.

Bottle at home in London. Pours clear garnet with a fluffy, off-white foam head. Toasted malt aroma with hints of chocolate and leaves. Flavor is quite nice, medium sweet, coffee ice cream, light mocha, leafy bitterness, faint toffee and toasted sugar. Medium bodied with fine to average carbonation. Sweet finish with mild bitterness, more coffee ice cream character, faint ripe bananas, light dirt and fallen leaves. A very serviceable English strong ale. Not bad.

Dark brown, with hints of red, tan head that lingers and excellent lacing. Aroma of malt, and dark fruit. Taste is predominantly dark fruit with hints of chocolate. Good drinkability.

Strong malt and molasses aromas coming off a clear amber/orange body with a wispy off-white head created from very fine carbonation. The molasses follows into the taste along with bitter and semi-sweet chocolate and a slight burnt/charred dryness and bitterness. The body is quite thin making this easy to drink and food friendly. Ends with a continuation of the the flavor with dark chocolate, molasses and tongue sticking dryness. Definitely an English ale with a extra bitter side to it.

Bottle. Dark ruby-brown with an average sized light tan head. Aroma-taste: herbal, treacle, toffe apple, roasty, molasses, smokey finishing with a resiny bitterness. Medium bodied, low carbonation.