3.7 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
A Mes rate:
Gravicask at GBBF. Superb looking beer. Dark dark brown with an awesome tan head. Tip top condition. Lovely raspberry tinged old ale aroma with some delicate smoky malt underneath. Bags of fruityness and a delicate sour note. Flavour follows on well from the aroma but is not quite so complex. Very slightly thin in the palate but still has a nice feel. Drinks above its strength. Very tasty.
2.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 9/20
Cask conditioned - gravity dispense - GBBF 2007. Four very high ratings before this. Oh well time to drag it down. The vagaries of cask ale. A black beer with a nice whitish head. The aroma is full of berry fruit. I thought blackcurrants. More fruit in the flavour but it’s very thin and flavour and body are hard to find. The taste was more elderberries than anything else. Poor on the day.
4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Cask Conditioned at Oxford Beer Festival ’05, gravity dispensed. Dark brown red beer with bubbly head. Rich fruity beer, blackcurrants and raisins with a slight tar note. Heavy mouthfeel, rather like a good Sheraz. A good drinkable beer that is going to be a star.
4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Cask (gravity dispense), Chelmsford Beer Festival, July 2005. A beer that is very hard to classify, style-wise. Its down as a mild, but Duff and I both noted intense fruity notes. So fruity, in fact, that I contacted the brewer to find out whether there is any fruit added. He confirmed there is some fruit in it, but raspberries (not a huge amount), rather than the blackcurrants that I guessed. He also said that it had appeared on the Cambridge Festival list as Forest Mild but he didn’t know why. He didn’t really think it was a mild either, but didn’t really know what style to call it. But with a beer this good, style is irrelevant. Rich, deep ruby colour. Intense cassis aroma. Subtly sharp and yeasty in an almost Belgian style. Some tart cherry character. Also some dark chocolate and roasty malt. Good grip - not sweet, not blowsy. Very succulent. Lingering, fruity aftertaste. Superb stuff.
3.8 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Cask@Chelmsford beer Festival. Surprise of the festival, for sure. Black current in the aroma and flavour, do they put blackcurant in this? Some chocolatey flavours, and some Belgian style fruity tart sourness. The flavour seems to go forever in this beer and really does well in the flavour department despite being quite low in alcohol.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Gravity @ 32nd Cambridge Beer Festival, UK. 26th May 2005
Sold at festival as "Forest Mild". Dark brown with red tones. Very hoppy, even if it wasn’t a mild. Burnt thin initial palate. Roasted aftertaste quite intensive. Hints of dark chocolate. The beer grows on you in a way and gets better by the time. More a porter than a miild to me.
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