Brains St Davids Ale

Brewed by Brains
Style: Bitter
Cardiff, Glamorgan, Wales

Serve in English pint

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Tasted this in the Saltcot, Saltcoats (JDW) in March 2012. Cask, handpump dispense. Clear pale gold in colour with a thick white head. Dusty dry hop aroma, short in intensity. Thin and creamy mouthfeel and superb lacing. Pale malt gives a dry digestive biscuit base with tangy marmalade notes. Dry bitter resins present in the long aftertaste. Finish has a slight malt edge with orange peel evident. A decent session bitter.

The Baron, Hinckley, 03/03/12. Ominously hazed orange-amber with a fine white collar; on closer inspection, swirling with detritus. Spoons, bless ’em. Whiffs half-heartedly of aniseed. Not bad considering; soggy digestive malts, plastic yeastiness, bitter orange, again a strong aniseed/fennel seed note. Bitter, soapy linger. But you can’t serve a beer in this condition without it tasting slightly of sick. Serviceable bitter- could force a whole half down if pushed.

UPDATED: MAR 4, 2012 Cask at The William Morris, JDW, London. Pours clear gold with a moderate, white foam head. Hay, straw, light grass and pee in the nose. Has a pleasant, lightly sweet flavor with hints of dough, wet hay and grass. Light bodied with fine carbonation. Mild dryness in the finish, more wet hay, some light sweet dough, very mild bitterness. Not at all bad, if I’m honest with you.

Cask at Blue Boar, Billericay. Pours a golden orange with a thin, neat and tightly carbonated This beer has a light floral aroma with a some grassy notes and a subtle coriander seed spiciness. It flows lightly over the palate with a little peppery bitterness that dries out quickly leaving a more intense herbal bitter edge with hints of lemongrass and sage. This is echoed in a vanilla, lemon, clove creamy aftertaste, with all these elements combining to make a very satisfying and delicious golden ale.

Cask by handpump at Last Post, Paisley (1 Mar 12) - clear golden ale with a good white head, neither sweet not bitter, apple flavour with a prolonged aftertaste

Fine looking golden ale, has a mild hoppiness in aroma and taste and a great full body.

Cask Handpump at the Bridge Inn, Burtonwood 21/02/2008 Malt and some hop aroma. White head. Golden coloured smooth on the palate and a little floral with hints of dryness and bitterness in a crisp full malt finish.

Cask at the London Welsh Centre. Straw coloured with a dense white head; honey and grain aroma; lighted bodied with some citrus and fairly sweet; gentle bitter finish. Not bad.

Cask, Plantation Road Gardener’s Arms, Oxford RB Crawl. Bright copper, dense white head. Plummy, sweaty orange peal. Grape and apple esters, fairly sweet. Decent flavor volume but doesn’t really come together.

UPDATED: MAR 4, 2012 Feb, 2008 Gardeners Arms, Plantation Road, Oxford. A nondescript bitter. Feels like a watered down decent beer. Feeble but drinkable. [2.5]
March, 2012 JDW, Rochester. Pale, strawberry blonde session bitter. Watery. Some white lilly fragrance, but all in all too soft and indifferent. Drinkable. [2.5]