3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
Bottle (from Bitter Virtue). Hops prominent and multilayered with leafy citrus fruits and milder spice notes perhaps a little curry powder. Malt was tasty but a little on the sweet side, the decent level of hopping did help to counteract this but I would have prefered it a bit dryer.
3.5 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 15/20
UPDATED: FEB 28, 2007 500ml bottle from BeersOfEurope. Perfumey and rather syrupy. A strong pale ale with notable hops. A very pleasant beer which feels very confident and assured. The hops bringing out the best qualities of the pale malt and vice versa. There are hints of an American Pale Ale or even an IPA in this with some of the citric notes from the hops, and some suggestions of a Belgian blonde, especially in the perfumey assertiveness of the malt - rather like Orval. However, I suppose Youngs Special London Ale is the nearest comparison. Be good to try them side by side. The downside for me was the syrupy sweetness and the somewhat predictable nature of the hops. But an enjoyable beer. [3.5}
Compared with Bluebird, Wild Hare and Rolling Hitch. Strength - malt and hops quite noticeable. The hops make themselves felt without clarity. EKG and Pioneer hops - perhaps not a good match. The malt and hops meld together well - the sugary sweetness and malt strength balances well with the sharp peaks of the hop bite - but the hops don’t meld with each other. Pioneer is a little used English hop. EKG is a well known and highly acclaimed hop - though on the evidence I’ve had so far, I wonder just what the fuss is about. [3.4]
3.3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
Bottle (Chimera IPA). Hazy, pale golden with a frothy white head. Grassy hop aroma with ginger lurking underneath. Bitter flavours with emphasis on apples and grassy hoppiness. A nice, English-style IPA.
3.1 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Cask conditioned as Chimera IPA. Orange coloured. Hoppy and fruity aroma. Sweet fruity flavour with some hop aromatic notes, but mainly just sweet and slightly sticky fruitiness. Soft mouthfeel.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Casked (as Chimera IPA, 6.7%). Honeyish golden colour with foamy white, longlasting head. Aroma is honey, nectar, hops and slight earthyness. Flavour is enormously flowery hops balanced up with some honey and spices. Spices and grass mainly dominate the aftertaste. A very pleasant one.
4.2 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 18/20
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.
1.5 AROMA 3/10 APPEARANCE 1/5 TASTE 3/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 6/20
50 cl bottle from the Real Ale shop. The label says "Chimera", but I guess this is the same beer.
Flat, with nasty globs of yeast at the bottom. Fruity, with complex hoppy flavours, grass and grapefruit, but they should work more on this.
1.6 AROMA 2/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 3/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 6/20
Cask at The Duke of Wellington Norwich 26 Sep 2006. Dark brown golden coloured. A tiny head. Unpleasant metallic aroma. Strange fruity flavour. Abrubt ending. An uninteresting IPA.
2.5 AROMA 3/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
Half pint on gravity at The Duke of Wellington, Norwich. Golden coloued body with a low level of foam. Sweet hoppy to the nose in a rather weak aroma. Malty and lightly honeyed sweetness in flavour. Missing bitterness (26.09.2006).
3.3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Bottle. Clear golden colour with a white head. Malty hoppy aroma. Sweet malty hoppy flavor. Long malty hoppy bitter finish.
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