Downton Chimera India Pale Ale

500ml bottle from Bacchanalia, Cambridge. I was looking forward to this. Some people had bad bottles, so I was in two minds, but I had a good one. Gold colour with lasting white head. Strong citrus astringent hop aroma. Really very leafy floral hop, like De Ranke XX Bitter. Just gorgeous. Enough malt to give it a bit of body. Sour astringent aroma. Sherberty hop finish. Wonderful.

Gold with a white head. Complex and agreeable aroma with some fruit, possibly gooseberry rather than citrus, with a hint of alcohol. Also sweet caramel and hops. the taste is dominated by buttery, malty sweetness, followed by a prolonged, rather grassy bitter hit. Interesting, absorbing beer, made for slow contemplation rather than quaffing.

Bottle Picked this up in Langton Matravers Dorset, was so impressed that I had to stop at the brewery on the way home I met with the young chap who runs it and picked up half a dozen bottlesof this stuff.. Warm golden colour, small white head, hoppy aroma and a great hoppy taste. This beer has the most incredible bitter finish that lingers forever and a day. Had a bottle of this sat outside my tent drifted off for forty winks and could still taste the beer an hour or so later. Really loved this beer! (Bottled version states 7%ABV)

Bottle. Pale orange colour with a slim and steady white head. Nice hoppy aroma. Hoppy taste, nice big bitter finish. Some honey sweetness throughout. Slight alcohol warm at the end. Medium to full bodied. This is my sort of IPA, very drinkable, lots of tasty hops, decent amount of alcohol - very nice indeed.

Tasted 01/06/2007. 500ml bottle, Rumble’s. Left to vent for a couple of hours, after some pretty volcanic strong English ales in the past. Just on the pale side of golden. Creamy white head tries hard, but doesn’t stand at chance at this alcohol level (though that might be a different story if it wasn’t cellar temp). Citrus and stonefruit blossom hops fill the nose at first, followed by a rich pale malt character that is slightly caramelly and certainly a little minerally. Warming alcohol becomes prominent. In the mouth it’s richly malty, with a strong sappy, almost steely, hop character. More mineral notes again, with a prominent fruity ester and alcohol character. Quite warming. Intensely bitter. Lingering. Did I say lingering? Barley sugars make an appearance at this stage too, hidden amongst the tongue-scraping bitterness.. A great beer to introuduce the concept of bitterness and a classic English IPA in my opinion. If DAB is the ex-girlfriend who remains your friend, this is the mate that nobody quite appreciates. Damn it’s bitter!