Greene King Abbot Reserve (Cask)

Brewed by Greene King
Style: English Strong Ale
Bury St. Edmunds, England

Serve in English pint, Snifter

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Cask ; Devon ; UK ; Caramel,fruit,spices and floral aroma ; Dark amber color with smaller head ; Sweeter taste with lighter bitter finish ; Heavier body ; Pleasant ESA.

Mahogany coloured pour with a white head. Raisin, dark fruit aroma. Quite a sweet nose. Orchard fruit, marzipan and sweet spice flavour. Dry, sweet finish.

UPDATED: MAY 20, 2010 1. Cask Handpump at the Clockwork Beer Co, Glasgow 02/12/2007 Floral aroma. White head. Copper coloured fruity and smooth on the palate with a crisp and very dry full malt finish. 2. Cask Handpump at the Richard John Blackler, Liverpool 07/06/2008 White head. Copper mid brown coloured. Fruit and malt aromas. Strong in alcohol and slightly bitter with some dryness and spice in a crisp full malt finish. 3. Cask Handpump at the GBBF Earl’s Court, London 09/08/2008 Fruit aroma. Amber coloured with some alcohol present. Crisp and slightly bitter full malt finish. 4. Cask Handpump at the Penny Black JDW, Northwich 28/12/2008 Floral aroma. Copper mid brown coloured and fruity with a crisp bitter and slightly dry full malt finish. 5. Cask Handpump at the Thomas Telford JDW, Ellesmere Port 27/03/2010 Slightly floral malty aroma. Copper coloured smooth on the palate strong in alcohol and fruity with a little dryness in a crisp and bitter malt finish.

Cask @ Hamilton Hall ’Sporks. Deep amber with an off white foam. Nose is sweet with malt, toffee and that yeasty banana ester thing. Taste is much the same, malt, banana, raisin and toffee with some late hoppyness in the finish. Seemed to have some Belgian and German qualities but, as mentioned below, it’s a bit sweet. However, having said that, I didn’t really mind it. To each their own I guess.

Cask - Fat Cat, Norwich. Clear copper coloured body with a dissipating, frothy off-white head. Sweet nose - caramel malts and a subtle fruity tone. GK sweet caramel malts/dry bitter hops with some earth and a grassiness in the flavour. Lingering finish and a medium body.

Cask at The Friendship, Fallowfield, Manchester. Attractive dark copper colour with medium off-white head. Aroma is yeast and fruits. Initially rounded malt on the tongue with a strange banana bubblegum note in the slightly sweet finish. Not as full-bodied as the 6.5% would suggest but a full body all the same. Decent autumnal beer but nothing to get over-excited about.

[Cask at William Robert Loosley (JDW), High Wycombe] Deep amber, slight off-white head. Typical GK caramel overlaid with rich fruits (marmalade?) and a very mild dusty hop bitterness in the background. Very smooth, meaning that you inadvertently drink it dangerously fast! Definitely a pudding beer - it’s very sweet, and too much so by the end. I had a pint, and would have been happier with a half.

Small cream-coloured head over deep foxy-amber beer. Aroma as caramel diluted in rainwater. Very faint touch of sulphur. Caramel and toffee, but with a bitter edge that is not quite hoppy - at least partly roasted. Again rainwater streak, and parsley on the palate. It’s anything BUT rich, it feels thinnish, and force-carbonated. Probably not a patch on the cask version, but at least it gets into Belgium this way.

Cask (handpump), Penderels Oak (JDW), Holborn. Clear dark copper colour. No head, just a thin collar of foam - no sparkler used here! Bags of sweet, stewed fruit in the aroma. There was also a significant candyfloss/bubblegum element and a hint of glue (Airfix). Not too much hop in evidence. More jammy fruit on the palate - quite sharp, but sweet too. Thought I picked up a little liquorice too. Plenty of flavour but, again, not much hop in evidence. Sweet, full mouthfeel with a slight herbal/medicinal bitterness (Angostura/Fernet Branca) on the finish. Interesting (for a GK beer) but rather too sweet for my taste. Tends towards stickiness.

Cask at GBBF 2011. Golden beer, small beige head. Fruity, malty aroma. Malty flavor, bready, some alcohol.