Bushys Castletown Bitter

Brewed by Bushy’s (Mount Murray Brewing)
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Douglas, Isle of Man

Serve in English pint, Shaker

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

@Raven, Bath. Dull amber-gold. Thin head. The aroma is accented towards caramel and butter. Soft body, malty with light toast and burnt butter. Easy-drinking, quick character.

Cask by air pressure at Geordie’s Byre, Ayr (7 Apr 12) - clear deep gold, thin off-white head, too cold, cereal malt, biscuit/cereal, refreshing, slightly bitter

Cask at Wandsworth Beer Festival, March 2012. It pours hazy golden yellow, with a thin white head and suspended particles. The nose is butter, hay and some sulphur (so not great!). The taste is butter/diacetyl, straw, corn, cereal, some sweet tinned fruit and citrus pith, with dryness in the finish. Medium body and low carbonation. Not much flavour and what there is I don’t like!

Cask at the Wandsworth Common Spring BF, London. Pours a very cloudy gold with a foamy, white head. Light tangy nose of hay and dough. Light sweet flavor with tons of diacetyl, buttery dough, hay. Light bodied with fine carbonation. Lightly sweet on the finish with more doughy bread, biscuits, butter, and faint hay bitterness. A little diacetyl is alright and can indeed enhance a beer’s character, but this beer has too much. Somewhat mediocre.

Cask gravity @ Battersea BF 2012. Pours a golden color with a small off-white head. Has a fruity malty weak hoppy aroma. Fruity malty caramel flavor with hoppy hints. Has a fruity malty caramel finish.

Cask @ The Raven, Bath (@ their coastal beer fest). Dark gold witih rich band of lace. Aroma is buttered popcorn all the way! Icky! Palate and the initial flavors are also tainted by the Big D. Way too much for anyone’s taste, anyone with any sense that is! The malt/hops are not big enough to carry the beer out of its diacetyl fog. Is sour and buttery, and any nice grain character hidden beneath here is unable to shine.

Cask conditioned at The Royal Blenheim, Oxford. Gold to amber with white head. Malty session type boys bitter with a flatish feel about it, standard fare.

Cask at Wellington Arms, Bedford. Gold amber with a small white head. Buttery malt aroma. Sweet, honeyed, grainy malt taste. Slight bitterness. Hugely flavoursome for the ABV. Good.

Cask (handpump) at the Castle, Holborn. Presumably a recreation of a beer from the old Castletown brewery, which was bought and closed by Okells many years ago. I last drunk this back in about 1997 so I can’t really judge how accurate the recreation is. Amber colour with a loose white head. Light caramel notes but not a lot else in the aroma. More caramel, underpinned by earthy hops in the flavour with a moderate bitterness. Reasonably balanced and easily quaffable. A straightforward, honest ordinary bitter. Nothing too exciting but does what is intended.

Not big deal in flavour, a little bitter, not annoying, but the head was good, the colour didn’t scare the aroma, I mean, doesn’t look like smelling squashy.