Courage Directors (Cask)

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

Serve in English pint

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UPDATED: SEP 25, 2004 Rerate, cask at the Station Hotel, Ipswich: Some of the same English malt vinegar aroma as Courage Best, but the flavour is fuller and richer with more pronounced hops. Original rating, 4.1: (Cask conditioned). One of my favourite English Bitters. Perhaps not so very special, but always drinkable.

I found this on tap at the Rummer Tavern in Cardiff. If it says Superior Ale at the bottom I got it right. It poured an amber liquid. Malty beer with a low amount of hops. Some burned toast and a slight roasty bitterness. Toasty smell and taste, a bit one-dimensional.

Very normal bog standard bitter. Nothing to write really. What you’d expect.

A staple beer found in the JDW chain throughout the land!! Last sampled this bitter in the Salt Cot, Saltcoats (JDW) in April 2006. Cask, handpump dispense. Clear copper red in colour with a thick creamy white head. Slight malty tang in the aroma with good mouthfeel. Robust pale malt complexes giving fiery digestive malt with dry woody oak flavour in mouth. Sharp tang of hop resin in the aftertaste. Not a popular beer with the locals and took a bit of a concerted effort by all to remove it. When seen in other JDW oulets - I regard it as a lack of imagination from management in not trying out local microbreweries - there’s plenty out there to choose from!!

Half at The Royal Children, Castle Gate, Nottingham. Typical brown/auburn and with a thin, patchy head. Faint treacle aroma. Tastes medium bitter with an average finish. Hoppy. Slight hint of sweetness coming through in the end. Thin. Not unpleasant but, as with so many I have drunk recently, it is in need of an extra something to mark it out from the crowd. Average bitter here.

Deep orange color with a modest head. The nose is malty, caramel a bit of wood. The taste is sweet and grainy, less bitter than your standard example for the style. The mouthfeel’s medium. OK.

Cask @ Back of Beyond. Pours clear copper amber with a nice white head. Aroma is malty, hoooy and fruity. Flavor is malty, a bit sweet, some caramel, fruity and medium bitter. Finishes bitter and a bit fruity.

Cask in The Tipperary, London. Tasted alongside Pedigree and there is no discernible difference. Generic English bitter. Clear dark brown colour. Nose is but of caramel malt and not much else. Taste is caramel, sweet malt grain and not much bitterness.

Cask at Price Alfred Queensway, London. Frothy white good mostly lasting head. Yellow colour. Light malty and moderate hoppy aroma. MOderate bitter flavor. Average moderate bitter finish. Creamy palate.

On cask at the Counting House in Glasgow. Pours a golden brown colour with a thin beige head. Aroma of Weetabix, caramel and barley. Quite thin with similar flavours and a light caramel and black pepper linger. Mild carbonation. Not the best.

A - Malty caramel and fruit A - Caramel brown with thin white head T - Sweet with roasted bitter P - Medium and soft to creamy O - Nice malty bitter