Dark Star Winter Solstice

Brewed by Dark Star
Style: Bitter
Horsham, England

Serve in English pint

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Cask Conditioned at Oliver Twist, Stockholm
Amber color. Rich malt and caramel aroma, light biscuits too. Quite good strength, but it tends to be thinner at the end; strong caramel flavor, sweetish in the beginning and drier later. Bold final bitterness. Solid but average Bitter.

Cask (Queen’s Arms, Basingstoke) - Copper coloured. Ginger, cinnamon and malt in the aroma. Fruity and spicy taste with ginger, fruitcake and nuts detected.

On cask at Cloisters. Pours an amber colour with a thick white head. Lovely hoppy aroma with pine, pineapple, grass and spiced pumpkin. Similar flavours with prominent pine hops. Moderate carbonation and an oily mouth-feel. Delicious!

Cask at Cloisters. Dark amber pour, thick creamy head. Nose is big spicy hops, orange, some spices also. Palate is hop-dominated, orange, spiced vanilla thing going on too. Finish is long and bitter. Really pretty great.

Cask (handpump) @ The Rake, 14 Winchester Walk, London, Greater London England SE1 9AG.

Clear medium amber orange colour with a average, frothy to creamy, good lacing, fully lasting, off-white to white head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, moderate hoppy, passion fruit, allspice. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to flat. [20101230]

Gravity cask at the Bree Louise. Pours a clear, rich gold with a strong, white head. Aroma is wonderful, at first quite hoppy with strong pine and then spicy with thyme and rosemary. Flavor is lightly sweet with some faint honey and white sugar, and quite bitter with sticky pine and resin. Medium bodied with fine carbonation. Finishes spicy and sticky in the throat, balanced with some slightly bready malts. Great beer. I don’t always enjoy spiced beer but this one is a winner.

Cask Conditioned handpump Market Porter Borough Market. An amber coloured beer with a whitish bubbly head. Big sticky fruity hops throughout. Very resinous. US amber in influence. It has a big body and possibly finishes too sweer, but it’s a really nice beer as you’d expect.

Cask-conditioned at the Sussex beer festival, Seven Stars, Bristol 6/1/11. Deep amber with a decent, off-white head. Aroma of sweetish malts and leafy hops, with a whiff of spice. Flavour had nuts, more spice and a dryish, hoppy finish. Good.

Cask at Oluthuone Leskinen, Oulu, Finland. Amber to ruby, clear beer. Thin, dense and creamy head. The aroma is hoppy: it has resin, sweet fruitiness. Malts are toffy and slightly bready. Dark fruits too. Taste is quite ok malty, medium bitter and dry. Toffy malts in the middle give some roundness. Slightly woody-bitter finish. Very smooth palate is bitter and a bit thin.

Cask at the Rake, 22nd Dec 09. Dark amber/light brown with not much head. Mainly toffeeish malt with a little lemony citrus. Well balanced with good bitterness layered over a biscuity backbone. Quite creamy palate. Good aftertaste with a hint of smoke.

Cask at the Evening Star, Brighton, on 9th December 2009 and again at the Cask Pub & Kitchen, Pimlico, London on 11th December. Both versions clear, copper coloured with slightly yellow white head quickly turning to a peripheral ring. BRIGHTON VERSION Interesting creamy notes, like clotted cream against a rich hoppy and fruity background with just a hint of smokiness. Creamy/buttery note continues to the end alongside the hoppiness in a rich, lengthy and satisfying finish. Good engaging texture. A huge amount going on in the beer. LONDON VERSION Cream notes completely absent allowing the fruit, hop and smoke to flourish and entertain the tastebuds to their full extent. Thus a very "clean" beer, equally enjoyable and indeed preferable to the creamy variety.