Goddards Fuggle-Dee-Dum

Brewed by Goddards
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Ryde, England

Serve in English pint

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   add pic

UPDATED: MAY 27, 2007 Nov, 2003 Bottle Goddards is an Isle of Wight micro founded in 1993 by the head brewer of Burt’s, the island’s long established brewery which was shutting down, and a businessman interested in brewing. Quality standards are very high - this bottled beer is filtered not pasteurised, and has no added gas - but the brewery does not export to the mainland, so it’s either a ferry to the island, or picking up a rare bottle. This Fuggle Dee Dum is made, obviously, from Fuggles hops, which give it a fascinating sweaty leather aroma; and some roast barley to add a dark edge. This really does come across as the product of a brewer who had long fantasied about brewing quality beers while struggling with the slack malt and dodgy old hops of a brewery struggling with finances. Runner-up for Champion Beer of Britain in 1995. A rare example of a bitter in the bottle that almost tastes like the real deal. Splendid. [3.4]
May, 2007Bull, Ditchling Creamy, slight toffee flavour. Fruit emerges. Very nice. Had this after a stiff walk with friends along the South Downs in which we got caught in the rain. At the time Chrissie and I thought we’d be on the Isle of Wight at the end of the week, and this would be a good sampler of the local beers. But later that week she had a miscarriage, and we had to call the weekend off. Anyway - nice beer. [3.7]

A mid-brown beer made with Fuggles - how outrageously old fashioned! Caramel malt, slight roasted notes, some sweetish mellow fruit and a good lasting hoppy finish; my (admittedly terrible) memory suggests this is what a great deal of decent cask beer tasted like 20 years ago; the beer is as endearingly old fashioned as its isle of origin; a comfortable seaside deck-chair of a beer, to relax in with your feet up whilst watching the zeitgeist-surfing herd out on their exotically-hopped golden ocean.

Post-cycle pint with Octo and Keith, The Blue Pig, Wolvey, 24/05/12. Handsome, cream-capped copper. Thick-conditioned with soft layered malts; milk chocolate-coated digestives, puff of cigar. Lingers creamily with a flick of ash. Nose lets it down a little; hot plastic, cereal. Otherwise lovely.

Cask. Pours clear brown with an off white head. Aroma of dark fruits and caramel malt. Flavour of caramel and light malt with a medium bitter finish.

(on tap) Dark mahogany with white head. Aroma of dark toffee and chocolate hints. Medium body, light carbonation. Flavour balances dark toffee with gentle crisp hoppiness with a nice somewhat bitter finish. Overall a nice and rather unusual beer.

Chocolate and caramel, with a sweet and roasted bitter flavour. Dark amber colour with a medium body

Bottled. Amber colour with a small off-white head. Aroma is bready and caramel malty along with some floral, wooden and fudgelike notes. Flavour is caramel and crystal malts along with toffee, wood, resin and mild grassyness.

Brown 50cl bottle of cold-sterile filtered (not pasteurised) ale, best before 18 June 2011. Brought back from the Isle of Wight by a work mate. Drank and reviewed on 7 Jan 2011. Poured slowly into an ’Abbot Ale’ glass tankard. Looked great, a clear body of shining light ruby red, on top a thin white foaming head. Malts dominate the smell, semi-sweet molasses and freshly baked biscuits. The taste follows the aroma but with a wicked hoppy bite within the malty flavour. Well balanced and full of flavour, wish I’d been given more than just this bottle. Recommended to have with barbequed meats and hearty casseroles: I reviewed it with variuos cheeses and dry biscuits, it went great with Emmentaler and Goats Cheese. Not so sure about the soft Garli though (or the Olives). Really impressed.

(Cask at Oliver Twist, Stockholm, 31 March 2012) Chestnut colour with frothy, beige head. Malty nose with notes of dark fruit, prunes, toast and spicy hops. Malty, fruity taste with dark bread, toast, raisins, prunes and a spicy bitterness in the finish. Medium body, with a touch of malt sweetness. Well balanced and quite nice.

Cask at Akkurat. Smooth and nice brew. Refreshing, malty cocolate and some hops.

Cask @ Akkurat. Highly drinkable, yet quite big and complex. Notes of chocolate and nougat. Refreshing grape bitterness from the hops.