Brakspear Bitter (Bottle)

Copper coloured. Herbal hoppy aroma. Malty flavor with tones of toast and huge amounts of hops.

BB Date 11/13/03, 500 ml bottle pours the color of iced tea with a small white head and little lace. The aroma is sweet like clover. The flavor is mild, almost taste like a clover, dead hops, and somewhat interesting. The palate is medium, not rich, not thin. Overall, I think the best if used by date is the key to the flavor of this one. I will re-rate when I see a fresh one.

A few months past the advertised freshness date. Not sure how much this matters in a bitter. This is refreshing and fairly light. Smallish white head. Little lacing. Caramel and a little soap in the aroma. The hops comes through with some tobacco and a little grain. A little heavy on the hops. Finsihes with a little bitterness. A solid entry for the style.

50 cL bottle, pint glass, 52°F. The head is basically a small creamy layer over a deep amber body with a slight haze. Nice depth. Cookie, toasted light bread malt (M); flowery hops (L); tea, toffee, honey aromas. Nicely balanced, nothing sharp or harsh in the aroma. Lightly sweet, lightly acidic flavor turns into a moderately bitter, lightly acidic, mineral finish. The crisp bitterness, refreshing acidity, and minearl flavors fit well together, but I think this really needs a stronger malt base to handle those other aspects. Medium-light body, watery texture, soft carbonation. Body weight and carbonation are spot-on but texture really needs to be creamier to pull this beer together. The bottom line is: suprisingly pleasant.

Dark amber color with white frothy head. Fruit, pine, and caramel in the aroma. The flavor was unremarkable but pleasant.

[Cask conditioned] Quite hoppy and smooth. A well crafted and pleasant English bitter.

Poured with a peat-whiskey look, with little head. Strange mediciney aroma and an overwhelming cough syrup character to this. Ugh.

It has been awhile since I had a bitter, and this one was a great way to get reaquainted. Nice wet, malt and yeast nose. Super easy to drink with that bittersweet tongue. Nice relaxed finish.