Frog Island Fire-Bellied Toad

Brewed by Frog Island
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Northampton, England

Serve in English pint, Shaker

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

Bottle from the Offie, Leicester. Burnt copper colour, small fluffy head. Rather tasty, sweet sugary aroma. Surprisingly flavoursome beer: very smoky, especially during the long, dry finish. Any sweetness evaporates into a dry leafy, autumnal bitter, which is quenchingly hoppy indeed. Excellent.

500ml Brown bottle (bottle conditioned), best before 31st Aug 2010, drank and reviewed 23rd July 2010. Poured slowly into a vase shaped ’Old Speckled Hen’ badged glass. The beer produced a magnificent foaming head of snow drift size and colour. Below sat a pale amber, dull orange body. Carbonisation was good, you could see bubbles rising through the slightly hazey brew. The aromas were of yeast and hops, no malt content. Pilot being the only hop used (according to the label), Maris Otter, Crystal and Wheat malts added nothing to the smell. The malts and Pilot hops did blend together well in the taste, sharp, refreshing and with a bitter aftertaste as the mouth dried. The 5.0% ABV is nicely placed within the beer and the balance between all the ingrediants seems to sit well. My first beer from this brewery, I have two more bottles of theirs in my stash and I’ll also look out for any of their beers in cask form in future.

Pours a viciously overactive murky goldish brown (the same colour a stewed apricots). Aromas of basement and a little bit of lemon, a little bit of grapefruit. Actually, if sniffed blind, you’d think it was Belgian. The flavour is a little more mild with good malt, carbonation and gentle hopping coming through. When I opened the bottle and had to rush to fill the glass with foam I wasn’t terribly happy, but I put that down to it being a beer that is alive and has had to travel to the other side of the world. I like this. I like that someone in England regards their beer so highly to send it to me in New Zealand. As I mentioned, this beer has a definite Belgian ale character of greenish white wine and yeasty basement and it endures. Calling it a Golden/Blonde Ale does it a massive disservice. It’s better than that.

On cask. Pours a dark golden colour with a fair off-white head. Aroma of caramel, barley, yeast and apple. Similar flavours, mild carbonation and a dirty tar-like finish. Not the best.

[cask at Cloisters, Edinburgh] Slightly hazy off-golden beer, quite flat on the pour. Bitter, malty nose. Very biscuity – something in the aftertaste I wasn’t keen on – but it was drinkable if unspectacular [07102011]

Bottle from Duncan Murray Wines, Market Harborough. Orange mist with a sudsy pile of head well at home in Octo’s weizen. (4,4) Bag of mouldy clementines, Pink Lady apples and limes sluiced around in the urinal aroma. Fat and balanced like Beowulf; robust earthy malts, applepeel and orange citrus, pine, gooseberry. Some pineapple emerging as it warms. Impressive from 1 variety of English hop (Pilot). Bracing, hairs-on-your-chest stuff with a dollop of farmyard about it. If it said ’Belgium’ and ’7.5%’ on the bottle Octo wouldn’t be whinging and reaching for the Brugs.

Cask @ 3 Judges. Pale yellow colour, white head. Aroma is biscuit malt. Flavour is of biscuit malts, some fruits. Slightly bitter and dry finish.

From the Bottle at Chris O’s, GBBF Week 09/08/2008 Fruit and hop aromas. Golden coloured and a little hazy in appearance with a crisp and slightly bitter full malt finish.

<b>Bottle 50cl.</b>
<i>[ As Frog Island Frosty Fuel ].</i> Clear medium orange color with a small, fizzy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, white to off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, fusty orange, fusty keller, pineapple. Flavor is moderate sweet and light bitter with a average duration. Body is light to medium, texture is watery to oily, carbonation is soft. [20081003]

50 cL bottle, courtesy of fonefan. Pours hazy orange with a diminished white head. Pineapple fruity aroma initially but the earthy notes become more dominant later. Earthy flavour with a mild pineapple fruity note. Lasting earthy fruity finish.

Bottle conditioned, 500ml from Beers of Europe, Norfolk. Burnished gold with full white head. Pretty decent hoppy, malty bitter, after the horrors of recent UK Bottle conditioned beers it is good to be drinking something decent. biscuity, crispish malt with a powdery slightly green hop, pleasant.