Fox Heacham Kriek (Beagle)

Brewed by Fox (Norfolk)
Style: Fruit Beer
Kings Lynn, England

Serve in Flute

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Bottled. A dark purple coloured beer with an off-white head. The aroma is malty and toasty. There is some roasted malts and a backgroung whiff of black cherries. The taste is malty and bready. There are a lot of stout like qualities to the beer together with some sweet fruit. Tastes sophisticated and well brewed.

Cask, Peterborough Fest 06. Dark brown with a small head. Aromas are earthy berries with light sourness. Smoky with brown sugar. Flavours are sweet malty, molasses with berries and some chocolate. Some roast character is evident. Not a kriek at all, but decent.

Cask conditioned at The Fox & Hounds, Heacham, Norfolk. Brown amber beer with off white head. Like others on here I expected a cherry kick, which is why I left this beer until last on this session, I’m sure the board said Double Kriek by the way. What I got was lots of demerara sugar to molasses treacle notes, the cherry didn’t get through much at all. Rich malt nice and deep, but no fruit.

Tried this with Duff the other day - I agree that the cherry flavour isn’t very evident, but if you look for it, there are very gentle & pleasant soft cherry flvours deep and dark and lurking on the edge of the mouthfeel. Nice toasty malt flavours. Very drinkable.

Bottle. Some fleshy fruit characters, yet, i can’t taste any cherries (if that makes any sense). Quite a toasty malt character, with a slight nuttyness towards the finish. Balanced and dry-ish. I was a little dissapointed however.

Hand pulled at the Wellington, Birmingham. Hardly any detectable cherry. More like a choc-tinged brown ale. Nice thickness and mouthfeel - fuzzy. Some nut. Pretty lengthy.

Cask (gravity dispense), Cambridge Beer Festival, May 2006. Sold as beagle. Had I known the alternative name (or bothered to read the programme) I would have known what to expect. There’s certainly plenty of pulpy, jammy fruit but I would not necessarily have identified cherries. I suppose there is a slight hint of red to the copper colour, although its not immediately apparent. On the palate, it starts off sweet and fruity but finishes distinctly sour. A decent effort and nicely refreshing.

UPDATED: JUN 1, 2006 Cambridge Beer Festival. May 06 (Gravity) Red-amber with almost no head. Complex berry scent, maybe with a hint of toffee. Sweet and malty in the mouth, with berries and dry toasted nuts and chocolate and a sweet-sour aftertaste. Palate is good, with a slight fizz on the tongue. 7/3/6/3/9 Re-rate: Cask handpump at The Wellington, Birmingham May 06. Roasted, chocolatey and very smokey. No idea why it is so much better now but it is.

A dark reddish brown beer with a thick off-white head. A sweet, malty and fruity aroma with a tiny hint of cherry. The taste is sweet and malty, then a drying, vinous cherry brandy-like flavour. The finish is long and sweet on the mouth. (Cask - The Fox & Hounds, Heacham, Norfolk).