2.7 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 9/20
Cask at the Cask Pub & Kitchen, 15th June 2010. Pure black with very little head. Nose is aniseed, coffee and if left for a while, cheesy feet. Taste is lots of aniseed, a bit of milky coffee and flat cola. Ok palate. An interesting experiment but not really drinkable.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
15th June 2010. Cask & Kitchen. Clear dark red brown beer. Short lived cream head. Light semi dry palate. Tangy red fruit, a minty tone and then sweet aniseed. Finishes with some orange squash and some more aniseed. Unusual and tasty.
3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 13/20
Handpull @ The Wenlock. Chestnut brown with a thin off white head. Nose of sweet malts and aniseed. Extremely sweet and watery with aniseed and slight tobacco hints in the swallow. Way, way too sweet and thin for what they’re attempting, more of an aniseed mild. A heavier roast and more body could’ve pulled it off but not this, If you’re gonna try extreme flavours you have to commit but this is just half the effort.
3.3 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Guest cask at the Pembury Tavern, London on 27th June 2009. Deep brown with white flattish head. The taste of liquorice and aniseed is an acquired one, but this beer is well crafted and the flavours carry off well. Anyone remembering eating "blackjacks" as a kid will have their memories jogged! Mixture of bitterness and aniseed carry through on a smooth finish.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
Cask, gravity dispensed, at the 2nd Beer Festival at the Cambridge Blue, Cambridge. Tawny brown and rather flat with a ring of white head; aniseed aroma; the flavour is dominated with licorice and aniseed and the finish has even more aniseed - it was at this point that I suddenly realised the relevance of the name - this is just like the Black Jack penny chews that were around in my childhood - pity they weren’t alcoholic!
2.7 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 9/20
Cask at Thurrock Beer Festival. Dark broen with a small, stable head. Licorice aroma galore. Sweet aniseed flavours. Too sweet and unbalanced even for a licorice-lover.
2.5 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 9/20
Cask, gravity, at Cambridge Beer Festival ’09. Dark brown. Aniseed aroma and taste, even more surprising because the name on the cask didn’t actually mention aniseed. Yes, it tastes just like those Black Jack sweets. Slight dryness. Glad I tried this unusual offering, but, no thank you, it didn’t work for me.
3.3 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Cask, Gravity at Banbury Beer Festival, Oxon, 08-05-09 Pours very dark brown with a tight tan head. This has the most incredible aniseed aroma its like sniffing a bag of aniseed balls or a bottle of Pernod. The flavour is less aniseed than the nose suggests but it is still the one overwhelming thing that you get from this ’one trick pony’ of a beer. Lacks a little body, the maltiness is a touch thin but for all of its faults I rather liked this. A7 A4 F6 P3 Ov13 3.3
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