3.1 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
Bottled, 500ml from a neighbour. Brown amber with white head. An ancient bottle gratefully accepted and it wasn’t too bad. There is a sweet malty toffee, caramel flavour with some hints of fruit. The bitterness and ’Brakspear’ taste had been absorbed but overall quite reasonable.
3.2 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 12/20
Can.Lively on opening.A clinging sweetness dominates and there is really no other flavour. considerits from a can its not reallt that bad but certainly not one to search out.
2.7 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
Can. Not a world class beer, but a nice break from the pale Spanish lagers. It’s a clear, deep golden beer with a dense, off-white head leaving nice lacings. Bread, caramel, roasted notes and hints of butterscotch and some metal in the aroma. The flavor has breadcrusts, caramel, notes of metal and butterscotch. Medium, creamy mouthfeel. It’s quite pleasant, but a bit too metallic. (070210)
3.3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Can, from Waitrose. Copper, good lasting off white head and gentle condition. Good mix of peppery resinous hop oil and sweet caramel in the aroma, still quite oily and hoppy in the mouth but wih a caramel sweetness that becomes a little too cloying with time, thankfully the hops come back to dominate the finish with a resinous bitterness muting any remaining caramel notes.
2.8 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 4/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
Can from Waitrose. Fairly straight up canned strong bitter. Nice malty aroma. Flavour is malty, strongly flavoured, slightly alcoholic. Untidy fruity esters. Acceptable is all - 2 cans left.
3.3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 12/20
Strong sherry and marzipan oxidised aroma but curiously appealing. Hazy amber-copper with lasting (!) off-white head that laces. Sweet, sherry-like flavours. Soft texture with low carbonation. Still very drinkable despite obvious signs of age and a bargain at 50p. Bottle (1979 vintage) sampled at GBBF 2005.
3.1 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Bottle (Henley Strong Ale) GBBF: Vintage 79, cheers Steve!! Cara malts in aroma, along with some oxidised cardboard notes. Ruby with a white head. Oxidised flavour, but still quite drinkable. Suprising!
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Bottled (Henley Strong Ale 1979, thanks to Steve) @ GBBF 2005: Orange/amber coloured. Light brown head. This is a funny beer. Has aged quite beautifully. Is very sherry like in the nose. Flavour is more like a good madeira. Is light dusty and pruny, but nothing that spoils in general good experience. Thanks Steve.
3.1 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Bottled GBBF 2005. An aged version to say the least! A reddy brown colourd beer with a good white head. The aroma is malty and toffee but quite old. The taste is warming with berry fruits. It belies its age considerably well.
3 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 2/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
I agree with ’bluevegie’, I wouldn’t go as far as calling this a Strong ale, it seemed just a standard pub bitter with a little more malt than hops. Tasted from the can and poured into a chalice, cool and not cold. Loose islands of bubbles sat lifeless atop a reddish copper body. Subtle mandarin, cantaloupe and toffee nose, slightly ’tinny’, I think more from the can than the beer. Soft and subtle in the mouth, quite full in body and very lightly carbonated. Burnt sugars upfront with a mix of sweet and sour malt mid-palate and a bitter roasted malt back that continued long into the swallow. This was actually a nice quaffer, albeit subtle in flavour, that you could easily go down in quick succession. Not bad.
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