Courage Directors (Cask)

Brewed by Wells & Youngs
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Bedford, England

Serve in English pint

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Hand pumped at the Salisbury in Covent Garden, London. Amber color, thin head. No powerful aromas, just a tad of a normal ale smell. A little malt and hops on the palate. Very nicely rounded bitter.

(Hand Pump)Light Ruby coloured ale. Very little head, but laced all the way down just the same. Wholesome and rich flavour with fruit. Palate of hazlenuts giving way to a finish that was akin to Pontefract Cakes. (Liquorice)

Side-by-side with the Courage Best Bitter, I can see the merits of this but not extraordinarily. Deep copper color, reasonably smooth with an adequate body. Lack of finishing flavor--seems like a cask ale for lager louts? (on tap, Dew Drop Inn, Summertown, Oxford)

Really suprised at the relatively low scores for this beer ... particularly from higher raters. Enjoyed on a handpull in Brighton. Some of the best aroma I encountered on this trip to Britain -- plenty of nuttiness and some candy tones. Nice peach color with a creamy head. Licorice flavor at the onset ... settles into a mellow hop tones with some malt mustiness. Maybe I recorded the name wrong, but I thought this was a lovely brew.

After tasting some bitters during my first visit to England this was kind of a relief. Light caramel aroma. Amber color, beige creamy head, very good lace. Sweet, malty, light bitter, caramel. Long lasting finish with caramel and hops, so bitter and dry as well.

Draight Real ale, Paleish Brown with a tight white head. This was a leader amongst real ales for many years when it was difficult to get anything of real quality. Now brewed at John Smiths brewery in Tadcaster and it is the worse for it. Previously a fruity and quite hoppy beer, it has now lost considerable character and is quite a bland bitter. It used to be found in many local pubs, but is now increasingly rare, perhaps thats the price of cost reducing materials. Not worth seeking out but handy when there is little other choice.

[Hand pumped, in England] Amber color. Poor aroma, pretty sweet but with a really enjoyable freshness, and quite bitter final. Basic Bitter, on the simple side, but enjoyable.

UPDATED: FEB 4, 2007 Nov, 2002: This was the beer that was served to the directors of the Courage Brewery at Alton. Any left overs were passed to Courage pubs under the name Alton IPA, but those in the know would refer to it as Director’s. It became so popular that Courage eventually brewed it for the public under the name Director’s Bitter. This is not an outstanding beer - it just edges onto the pleasant side of bland in an easy drinking style. In the days when not much of quality was available on cask a pub that served Director’s was always a place to seek out because it was a reliable and reasonably tasty brew. It is still not unusual to come upon a pub where the only cask ale on offer will be Director’s. As such it has earned an undeserved reputation - in the land of the keg the one cask pub will be king! [2.4]
Feb, 2004. JDW, Faversham. Medium amber. Neutral sweet/dry. Licorice notes. Balanced. Pleasant. [2.8]
Oct, 2005: Blue Posts, Berwick St, Soho. I’ve had Directors in top condition twice recently - here in this scruffy old fashioned Soho pub, and in a well run traditional hostelry in my home town. Both times I was struck by how tasty the beer was. How the malt was soft and flavoursome with a toffee and licorice edged warm sweetness, with just enough hops to balance out the sweetness, but not to overwhelm. [3.5]
Feb, 2007 Worlds End, Camden. Fresh and fruity with lactic notes and some pleasant hop dust. Good. [3.3]

(on cask) big fruity hop nose which hinted at flowers and berries. taste is more subdued but still hasa floral element. bitter finish very smoothpalate. a good bitter

Sampled cask conditioned. Amber colour. Flowery and perfumed hop aroma, wet cardboard tones. Peanuts and hoppiness in the flavor. An average bitter but excellent in cask version.