4.2 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 17/20
Bottle from Sainsburies. Wow what a shocker! Aroma is sweet, rich ruby malt, candy sugar, slight spice, nutty, dark fruit. Taste is similarly rich with hints of treckle, juicey fruit cake, hints of brandy, soo appealing. Very reminisant of Sarah Hughes ruby mild when its on top form. Georgous stuff!
3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Ruby pour with creamy beige suds. Not a bad estery snout full of nutty malt, toffee, banana and candyish notes like a dunkelweizen or roggen. Silky palate with with dark fruit, wood, biscuit, walnut, liquorice, soap. Just a little sourness, possibly from the wheat. Some alcohol in the finish, but carries it’s abv pretty smoothly. Wood, alcohol and very late oaty afters. Tasty ale with some Germanic leanings.
3.2 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
Dark red amber. Aroma of dark fruits and malt, rich and with a hint of alcohol. Strong malty, nutty Christmas cake taste, slightly burnt, with some sourness and some bitterness to follow. Wasn’t quite in the mood, but it’s all right.
3.5 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
UPDATED: OCT 17, 2008 Bottle 500ml from Waitrose, Christchurch. Pours a clear reddy brown/deep bronze colour with a small white head. The head had dissipated within a couple of minutes. Has the aroma of vine fruits, with a hint of wet cardboard. The taste was creamy toffee/plums/vine fruits, with a bitterness following on. Quite smooth, you hardly notice the alcohol (6.2%abv). A slightly soapy mouthfeel to it. Still, it is an honest pint and well worth a try.
3.1 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
Bottle from Waitrose, Thame, Oxon 13-12-07 Poured dark brown with lively almost beige coloured head. Some sweet malt and dark fruit on the nose, but the taste is dominated by a burnt toffee and fruity combination, not bad but a bit ’in yer face’. Still I quite enjoyed it.
3.1 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Bottle. Dark amber colour with a small white head. Aroma and flavour of malt, caramel and dried fruit.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
Bottle at home ... Ruby Brown ... Sweet toffee nose ... rich and syrupy ... lots of toffee malt ... sweet and complex .. little bitter drying mouth linger.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Wonderful caramel aroma on opening the bottle. Pours a dark amber with a small head - looks great. The flavour is not complex - caramel malt and a hint of dried fruit - but the palate is just right, making for a very solid and enjoyable easy-drinking ale.
3.3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
Brown or dark copper with a disappearing, small off-white head. Caramel and molasses aroma with some earthy notes. Flavour has a mix of bitterness and varamel sweetness. Lasting hop aftertaste.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
UPDATED: AUG 18, 2009 Reddish brown with a red hue and a nice golden head. The aroma is rather neutral, but has notes of caramel. The flavour has notes of roasted malt, caramel, a hint of coffee and a rather dry citrus in the finish. It’s nice, but not as full-bodied and round as a real winter ale should be.
July 08: It is hazy copper-orange with a huge, creamy head. The aroma has notes of malt, caramel and fruit. The flavour has a light sweetness and notes of anise, roasted malt, fruit, citrus, caramel and the after-taste and finish is extremely long and with a lot of notes – very nice and interesting.
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