Duchy Originals Organic Golden Ale

Brewed by Wychwood (Marstons plc)
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Witney, England

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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[500ml bottle, gift from wife] Colour veering towards mid-brown - darker than one would expect for the style of ale. Good and lasting creamy head. Sweet, fresh, delicious aroma. Taste initially sweet and malty, and very smooth. The middle of the bottle went very sour for a few mouthfuls - quite a strange interlude - before the sweetness returned towards the end of the bottle - it was only at this point that the elderflower suddenly came through. Left a pleasantly light, fresh, hoppy aftertaste. This went down very easily, and would make a nice summer ale. A good effort from Charley boy (or at least from Wychwood Brewery, who have contract-brewed this beer for him) but it was somehow a little too light. If you’re looking for a similar organic ale with just a little more kick than this, try Shepherd Neame’s Whitstable Bay. However, I will definitely look forward to other beers from our monarch-in-waiting!

(bottle, 4.2% abv) Slightly unclear, deep golden colour with a medium-sized and slightly off-white foamy head. Slightly grainy malty aroma flowery notes and hints of citric hops. Mildly bitter flavour, light bodied with a moderate carbonation. Dry malt-character with shy grainy and doughy notes; dry and moderately bitter finish with delicately citric hops. 28.V.12

Bottle from Waitrose. Pours a dark golden colour with a fair white head. Aroma of honey, grassy hops, yeast and caramel. Quite bitter and a little sweet with grassy hops again upfront. Just the slightest hint of elderflower before heather honey and alcohol to finish. Moderate carbonation and CO2 prickle with lingering caramel and alcohol.

500ml bottle cellar cool. My version is from Waitrose, and says 4.2% on the label. Hazy gold with a white head. Woefully short on aroma and flavour to the point where it’s offensively inoffensive. There is a hint of a shadow of a suspicion of elderflower, but not much else. Try it if you like, but don’t expect much.

Bottled at oh6gdx’s birthday bash at chriso’s. Clear amber, small head. Faint hay aroma. Dry and grainy with medium body. Notes of berries and ash. Low bitterness. Decent effort for being Wychwood.

Light gold in colour with a white head that gently subsides. Subtle to indifferent aromas, but definitely a summery ale. Lightly floral, but little else. The flavours are soft and golden but there isn’t a hell of a lot there. A good thirst quenching ale, but not a favourite of mine if I’m honest.

Old Rating. Bottle. Red coloured. A boring sweet malty bitter without many hops at all. Below average

Bottled, 500ml, pasteurised from Sainsburys in Banbury. Clear gold with white head. Light, thinnish beer with a strange dose of caramelisation in the malt and a chemical in the background. Fortunately these are not too offensive, leaving the beer drinkable if a little bland.

Bottle. Orange appearance with flowery flavours plus a little bitterness.. Clear sharp taste -not too bad at all.

Bottled bland, boring beer. Another dismal failure from Wychwood (and Charlie Battenberg, the ’brains’ behind Duchy in the first place). Insipid taste, even when you mix in the yeast. Virtually no aroma and a thin body means there’s nothing to get a hold of here. Avoid like the plague, and sod the monarchy.

2008 Bottle - Pours amber with a rather large head, aroma is of light malt and wet grass, flavour is bitter without being hoppy, finishes slightly caustic in the back of my mouth, not my favourite...