Durham St Cuthbert

Brewed by Durham
Style: English Strong Ale
Durham, England

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

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UPDATED: MAY 3, 2003 (Bottle conditioned). A new favourite of mine - and I'm the first one to rate it, even! (It has been in the database for quite a while. Btw, cask conditioned this beer is called "Magnificat", otherwise it's the same brew.) I had this wonderful bottle conditioned beer under the vaulted ceiling of Durham Cathedral and Cloister Restaurant, where it rightly belongs. The commercial description seems pretty accurate, but this beer may have more in common (strength, yeastiness) with some belgian ales than most British IPAs. Durham Brewery is not much more than 10 years old, but this rich and full flavoured beer would be worthy of St. Cuthbert himself (he died 687 AD, btw). Colour is golden and hazy, carbonation (natural) is low to moderate. If one needs a textbook example of the fact that beer is made of the three elements malts, yeast and hops (+ water, of course), and that each of those three elements should be clearly discernible in aroma and flavour - well, here it is. To quote the brewery: "Despite being strong, this beer is not too sweet, but has a luscious malty base over which a complex bitterness makes balancing, thirst quenching properties." Amen!

Bottle 500ml. Great beer. Aromas of grain, caramel, and notes of citrus and alcohol. Taste starts sweet, with bitterness taking over for a long finish. Palate is velvety, and medium bodied. Amber, with a thin head.

Durham Brewery seem to produce consistently good beers and this is no exception. A swith any good IPA, this is strong in alcohol but supremely drinkable (a dangerous combination). This is fresh and fruity in aroma. Flavours are fruity, citrus and tangy. The finish is looonnngggg and bitter. Alcohol vapours on the finish are warming and satisying. Nicely done!

Bottle conditioned. Hazy gold, good rocky white head and moderate condition. Excellent IPA type hop aromas mixed with honey and yeast. Promise in the nose is rewarded in the mouth with good intense hop bitterness that never gets out of control, held in check by sweet honey and grapefruit that stretches out into the finish. And its good and strong.

Bottle conditioned from Open All Hours, Keswick. Orange amber, rocky head. Spicy hoppy aroma. Excellent mouthfeel. Long hoppy finish. Really tastes like an American Pale. Lots and lots of hops. Yummy.

Bottle, Waitrose Ponteland. Good clean copper with a fairly thick white head. Palate and nose are both well balanced, loads of citrus hops and well balanced malt. Lovely!

UPDATED: MAR 21, 2012 Bottle picked up at Londis, Goring, Oxon, had this 27-01-08 Pours light golden with some haze topped off with a big white bubbly head. Great hop profile on the nose. Tasted fruity and hoppy with a streaky honey sweetness, quite floral also. Tasted great, Durham seem to consistently knock out some cracking beers. A8 A4 T8 P4 Ov16 4.0 Had this again Bottle courtesy of Peter Fowler, Shoulder of Mutton, Wantage, Oxon consumed 21.03.12 Cheers Peter Pours amber with white head lightly floral nose. Bitterness is quite lovely, its certainly reigned in by a nice bed of sweet maltiness but it is still lovely, good fruity flavours with a raspy sweet citrus bite. I still note a light honeyness, it is a great beer maybe not quite the 4.0 but still great. A7 A4 T8 P8 Ov16 3.9

bottle at home ... copper ... huge huge bubbly white head ... zezty orange ... citrus zezty hop nose ... light toffee malts ... big big citrus ... ligth bitterness ...but huge orange hop ... juicy big bright and zezty ... nice

courtesy of Laurent Mousson - clear amber colour with a little stable foam; dynamic aroma showing bitter almonds, yeast and grapefruit; highly carbonated; solidly malty with a robust bitterness; dry and long hoppy fruity finish - a nice one

Bottled. Came out the bottle fighting, hazy caramel body with lively carbonation resulting in a large cloudy head that settled to wispy white. Yeasty aroma with emerging hoppiness. Short sweet maltiness overtaken by crunching hops and a rasping citric finish. Very drinkable for a 6.5% ale. Another first rate Durham ale.