Davenports Busy Fool

Brewed by Highgate (HWBC Ltd)
Style: Bitter
Walsall, England

Serve in English pint

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UPDATED: MAR 16, 2010 Cask handpull at The Lion Tavern, Liverpool. Mid brown, lasting cream head. OK, slight caramel malt bitter, Not great, but ok.

Classed as a Premium Ale by the brewery this 500ml brown bottle was reviewed on 6th Aug 2010, the best before date was Sept 2010. It was poured into a vase shaped pint glass (badged ’Old Speckled Hen’). The body was a lovely clear dark amber/ mid brown colour, the head creamy in colour and texture when licked. The aromas were of malts, lightly roasted/toasted and set aside for a while to mature. The beer gave off a caramel hue, not overly sweet, but getting that way. The taste was mostly malts, a hop bitterness was hidden away and almost arrived in the aftertaste, but malts dominated the intitial flavour finds and took over again later. Semi-sweet molasses come to mind in explaining the body and true flavours and it is certainly on the sweet side of the rails. One of the ingrediants is listed as ’No3 Invert Black Sugar’, the Fuggles and Mount Hood hops can’t quiet cope with the ammount of sugar used! I do have a sweet tooth and this beer was most enjoyable, could I have five in a row? No, but one or two would be fine.

Bottle. Reddish amber beer with strong head. The aroma is mildly roasted, fruity and bitter, and the flavour is bitter, rich, roasted and mildly vinous. Overall a nice drinkable bitter and roasted beer.

Bottle. Bronze with an off-white foam. Aromas are burnt toffee with lemon and raisins. Some plastic with light roast and chocolate malts. Flavours are sweet and malty with raisins and syrup. Lightly herbal with a very sticky, sweet finish. A bit artificial but OK.

Bottle from Crosspoint Tesco, Cov. Pale ruby with a white tuft of head thinning to a slick. Signature sugary Highgate aroma; Battenberg, caramel and Allsorts with a hint of rust. Dour and adjunct-driven with little but the flavour of caramelised sugar, rock candy and aniseed. As uneventful a means of administering 5.8% of alcohol as I can imagine.

Bottle. Brownish appearance and quite heavily pasteurised which probably accounted for the fairly bland flavour. Low carbonation and not a lot going for it.

50cl bottle from Tesco, Solihull. Golden brown with a ring of cream head; aroma of toffee and malt; fruity malt flavour with dusty plums, but rather thinly bodied; malty, rather jammy, finish.

Cask conditioned - handpump White Elephant Northampton An amber coloured beer with a white head. The aroma has dark fruits and raisins together with malt and nuts. Fruity in the mouth with a decent chewy body. A decent tasty malty bitter