Cask gravity at White Cliffs BF 2007. Chestnut colour with thin beige ehad. Some peppery hop on aroma. Pretty good strong malt in mouth. Plenty of flavour. Peppery hop finish. Some choc as well in mouth.

A dark, reddish-brown coloured beer with a weak off-white head. A weak, vinous aroma, some fruit with a hint of spice. The taste is thick, and a bit cloying. slightly sour, fruity with a touch of warming spice that is underpinned by a heavy alcohol presence. The finish is thick and sweet. Cask - The Ouse Amateur Sailing Club, King’s Lynn, Norfolk)

Hand pulled at the Wellington, Birmingham. Warming rosehip style flavour. Ruddy beer. Balanced fireside flavours. A hint of Port and some unsurprising strength.

Cask (gravity), Cambridge Beer Festival, May 2005. You may think May is an unusual time to be drinking a Christmas ale and you’d be right. But this isn’t your average Christmas beer - its been aged in cask since then. And it shows. There is bags of plenty of dried fruit and Christmas pudding. But there’s a woody edge which becomes much more pronounced on the palate. Tastes rather musty and dried out, with a vinous edge. There are vestiges of a warming richness but it’s has ebbed away with age. So it comes over more like an old ale than a barley wine. Interesting but I don’t really think the ageing has done it any favours. I’d like to try it fresh to get a comparison.