Castle Eden Special Ale

Formerly brewed at Camerons
Style: English Strong Ale
Hartlepool, England

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

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A Mes rate: bottle at the ever brilliant Chris O’s Pre GBBF Extravaganza.
Dirty amber with a thin white head. Very sweet grainy malt, rather oxidised and cardboardy. Sticky and way past its best.

Bottle @ pre-GBBF shindig, August 2009. Vintage bottle, circa 2001, from the old Castle Eden brewery (so of interest for that fact). Presumably from the Silk Shropshire Stash. Amber colour. Still has some condition. Unsurprisingly there is a lot of cardboardy oxidation. But the bitterness has survived quite well. Drinkable and not too knackered. Still flagged for re-rate although comparisons with the current incarnation won’t be too revealing.

Bottle 50cl. @ Chriso’s pre GBBF Shindig ’09.
Clear light to medium amber orange color with a small, fizzy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white to white head. Aroma is moderate malty, grain, oxidide, cardboard. Flavor is moderate sweet with a average duration. Body is light to medium, texture is watery, carbonation is soft. [20090801]

Amber with a lasting off-white head. Fruity and malty aroma. Malty flavour with cardboard.

Bottled. Amber colour, mediumsized white head. Aroma is earthy, some fruits and alcohol. Flavour is quite much cardboard and some mild fruity nnotes. Quite nice., even though low rating, but bb was in 2001...

UPDATED: MAR 4, 2008 Page 109 of Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide. My long term memory has failed me here and I had this beer out of English gift pack we used to get in Alberta. This rating is more current and on hand pump in York. Dry, maltly and a session beer that even my wive grooved on. Only 175 of MJ’s Classic 500 brews to go

Bottled, Pasteurised. Brown red colour, short head. Boiled caramel toffee flavour, a little sharp sourish nut. The beer then disappears without a finish, easy drinking but no challenge.

nice crisp dark amber colour, mild bitter finish somewhat soapy. Nothing to Edeny or Specal though. But it was refeshing and smooth.

Real nice dark amber colour, caramel sweetness, nutty, slightly bitter, malty aroma.

Dark amber; earth & sour orange aroma character; a little bit of late hop. Better than the last beer I had from them (pre-independence) but still, not enticing.