Greene King Fireside (Cask)

Brewed by Greene King
Style: Bitter
Bury St. Edmunds, England

Serve in English pint

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My bottled review of this beer (Nov 2008) reads a lot differently to this: with one or two trends common! Hand pulled pint in some random pub (The Anchor), Cambridge, England in late Nov 2011. ‘Late hopped for a mellow fruity flavour’ according to the brewery: let’s see if I agree. Dark Chestnut brown/red with a cream coloured crown of foam; looked OK. Malts in the aroma, roasted ones, add some candied fruit and nuts for good measure. The flavours also on the malty side, again with some hints of dried fruits and nuts: on the sweeter side more than dry or citrusy in taste. The body was thinner than it looked, no true depth at all considering the brewery claim it is a ‘Winter Warmer’. Nothing wrong with it, a dark coloured bitter with a pleasant enough blend of ingredients, easy to drink and inoffensive: however I couldn’t find any evidence of that ‘Late hopped for a mellow fruity flavour’ stuff. As an overview: just another Greene King beer to flood the market with, most likely made from a regular base brew and tinkered with.

Cask. Very nice fruit aroma. Cherry maybe. Semidark ruby colour. Med sweet light bitter. Medium body good beer

A - some dried fruit and roasted aroma A - dark amber with thick head T - light sour with tinny bitter P - mid and soft O - ehhh...

Pleasant enough on the palatte. Darkish with some caramel notes but no distinctive hop flavours. It’s okay, far from the worst beer I’ve ever tried but not in any way distinctive. ’Average’ pretty much sums it up.

Cask at The Pig. Chestnut with a beige collar. Just a hint of lemon zest in the aroma, amidst the usual watery GK stuff; cake, almond, oak. Soft and flabby with negligible Battenberg and cherry notes. Dismal.

Cask at the Nascot Arms, Watford. Red brown in colour with a loose white head; aroma of well roasted malts and caramel; rich, roasted malt flavour with some nuts and sour purple fruit; dry finish. A warming and pleasant pint on a cold winters evening.

Cask at Queens Larder, Bloomsbury 15 Nov 08. Dark brown colored. A small fluffy head. Aroma of nuts amd malt. Flavor is fruity with plums and raisins. Sweet – but a dry fruity bitterness emerging.

Tobacco brown with a saliva like head that clings to the glass disturbingly. Sweet aroma, very sweet with hints of tropical fruit. Very fruity in the mouth - oranges and papaya - but quite vinegary. Watery thin.

Cask conditioned - handpump - Turf Tavern Oxford. An amber coloured beer with an off white head. The aroma is fairly thin but there are some fruity malts. The taste has some malty warmth and some caramel. An uninteresting fruitiness and an underdeveloped finish make the experience unremarkable.

Cask conditioned at a Wetherspoons. Red to brown with white head. A pretty beer, bright with a malty aroma. Gadzooks no hint of the GK Tea hop, this is a fruity, malty, slightly sweet beer, ripe plums comes to mind. Thinnish, but quite drinkable, an enjoyable beer.