Brodies Elizabethan

Brewed by Brodies
Style: English Strong Ale
London, England

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

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Cask at the William IV (Brodies Autumn Fest), 4th Sept 2010. Deep black with little condition. Very, very sugary on the nose and in the mouth. For me, the level of sweetness and the amount of alcohol took this out of the realm of the enjoyable for me. The hand-bottled sample that Ken did for Mes (I had a tiny sip) definitely improved on having it fresh but I’m not going to be swayed on my scoring for now. Looking forward to re-rating at the next Brodies fest when it will be seven months old.

Cask at Brodies. It pours black, with a thin, bubbly head. The nose is roasted malt, coffee, milk chocolate, boiled sweet s and Calpol. The taste is sweets (particularly Black Jacks), candy floss, angel delight, liquorice, vanilla, coffee liqueur, milk chocolate and Calpol. Medium-full body, low carbonation and very well hidden alcohol. Complex and surprisingly smooth and light. A well made beer, but it’s perhaps a bit too sweet for me.

Cask at William IV. Having this on Friday made Saturday morning very tough, although it was lovely. Dark brown, no head. Ultra sticky and thick. Aroma is lots of boozy sweetness, very roasty, lots of dark fruit, coffee liqueur. Taste is sweet caramel, treacle, lots of booze. A third was more than enough, but it was very nice.

Cask at Brodies BF. Pours sludgy black with no head. Roasty nose, booze, tangy malts. Extremely sweet flavor, chewy, licorice, almonds, dark sugar. One of the fullest bodied beers I’ve ever had, with light carbonation. Warm finish, sticky sugars, chocolate liquor, brown and demerera sugar, faint roast, hoisin and soy sauces. A great beer overall. You definitely can’t drink more than 1/3 of a pint of so, but I could nurse that amount for over an hour and enjoy it the whole time.

UPDATED: APR 6, 2012 hand bottle at home ... thanks mate ... deep black ... soft roast toffee chocolate ... big vanilla ... light smoky nose ... oily sticky body ... sweet sweet roast ... lots of sherrry ... hint of bourbon ... some smoke ... gentle islay tones ... very nice but its way too heavy to drink a lot of 3.8 on cask ... dark black .... no head ... swwt vanilla toffee nose ... juicy sweet fruits ... vanilla ... sweet malts ... definite whisky/boubon ... big sweet toffee malts .... for its sweetness and alcohol this has great balance 4.0

Cask (handpump) @ Brodies Bunny Basher Festival 2011 - King William IV, 816 High Road, Leyton, London, England E10 6AE.

[ Courtesy of madmitch76 - and yes Ken did have to go and buy a new glass of Elizabethan, since i wanted to test how sticky i was able to make the table and my pants ;O) Sorry Ken ]. Dark dark black colour with virtually none head at all. Aroma is heavy malty, roasted, chocolate, coffee, soy sauce, licorice. Flavour is heavy sweet and light to moderate bitter with a long long duration, soy sauce, licorice, roasted, sweet sugar - syrup, peat. Body is full, texture is syrupy and sticky, carbonation is flat flat, finish feel is moderate alcoholic, but not burning. [20110501]

UPDATED: AUG 15, 2011 On cask (handpump) at Brodies Autumn Festival at the William IV on 4 September 2010. Pitch black. Sticky consistency. Lots of raisiny fruit. Very rich. Some licorice. Extremely sweet. Some cough mixture character - Gees linctus. Not really my thing at this age. Needs more time to settle down I’d say. [6/3/6/3/12=3.0]
RE-RATE: Cask (handpump) at the Brodies Bunny Basher Festival, King William IV, Leyton on 1 May 2011. It has mellowed somewhat since last time. Lots of aniseed. Rich plummy fruit also in the flavour. Still a bit sweet and sticky for my taste though. Still needs more time. [7/3/7/3/13=3.3]
Score updated

Cask handpull at William IV. Black, thin tan head. It’s sweet. Bit of heat. It’s hot, sweet and syrupy. I love that. It’s sweet with a touch of liquorice. Nto awful I like the molasses. It’s good, way too sweet, but I ended up liking it.

A Mes rate. Hand bottled thanks hugely to our Ken.
Utterly utterly brilliant. Everyone who had this thought the same. Sooooo sweet but still tolerable. Possibly the best body I have experienced, well of the booze variety anyway. Thick and juicy beyond description but not at all sticky. Notes of pepperoni and other entertaining meaty stuff. Unreal malt. Again, so much sugar, it’s proper dessert stuff. Incredible burnt crème brûlée topping, toffee and caramel a plenty just yum bloody yum all round. The alcohol feels like 10% almost although the sweetness gives you a hint, other than that, in a blind tasting there is just no bloody way you would put this at 22%. It’s just absolutely stellar stuff. So far removed from what most of us know as beer but it’s just ooooooh so good. Some wood and leather in the background. My god, this is exceptional. One of the most assertive yet approachable beers I’ve had. Huge depth and complexity, finesse and balance even. Character, poise, damn. I knew Brodies were good already but this one has just raised the bar to a whole new level. I now know they are capable of utter brilliance. Ken, you fucking rock mate.

From Mes. Wow! Alcoholic Camp coffee. This is like those chocolate wrapped liquors my Nan used to buy at Christmas. Very sweet. Yummy sweet. Invitingly, seductively, devilishly sweet. Great body - smooth and luscious, with a wonderful viscous mouthfeel. Flavours are mainly around bitter chocolate, smoke, mackerel, and coffee beans, with some deep dark fruits coming through. Very drinkable - and no off alcohol notes. I love this. I could really indulge in a few of these!