Greene King IPA Export Strength

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

Bottle. Creamy head that soon disappeared. Faint rye bread aroma. Distinctly but not overpoweringly hoppy taste with medium-bitter finish. Not "metallic" at all. Americans! What’s your problem with this clean, straightforward IPA? All of your own beers I ever tried taste like pee (Anheuser Busch, Miller’s, you name ’em). Greene King IPA is good beer!

Tasted 7/22/09. 500ml bottle. Filtered with an amber hue. Trace ring of bone white head. Caramel soggy bread aromas. Mild and subtle esters. Medium bodied with a solid malty character. The bitterness from the hops are faint and meld well with the malt dominant beer. The bitterness also adds a nice drying sensation in the finish. Smooth and easy, yet nothing special.

Poured out a very nice copper brew with a small white, rocky head, minimal lacing and fading crown to a ring. The aroma is interesting - good or bad I’m not sure - very sweet caramel, fresh white bread, sweet plum, nectarines that have been sliced and left in a bowl for too long, aromatic hops and some honey. The taste is appealing yet nothing too original. Oh - the plum aroma seems more like figs now. Taste: up front hops, mild bitterness that is exactly what I want out of this brew, caramel, bread crust from middle to finish. Slight alcohol is detected after a while. The bitterness is more prevalent as I near the bottom of my glass. Totally drinkable in large quantities but I do thing there are tastier options.

Clear orange-copper, thin off white head. Aroma gets a light skunk from the clear bottle. Light caramel, very grassy. Taste is caramels, some fruit, toffee, earthy, grassy, but an unpleasant metallic note.

Pours a brownish amber with a small white head. Aroma is malty with a lightly skunked hop aroma. Flavor is lots of malt, earthy, light caramel, and a little hop.

Why oh why do some brewers insist on using clear bottles? Especially for fairly hoppy beers? Popped the cap on this one and the problem was immediately apparent. Skunk. Smelled like a skunk had been run over nearby. Poured a pretty brown/amber with a smallish fizzy head. Nose of skunk, earth, and poop. Taste was not as bad as the nose foreshadowed. A medium roasted malt and hop flavor was apparent out in front of the skunk, but hints of skunk were apparent in the taste as well. Hop spice finish, with some more lingering skunk. A BROWN bottle would have prevented this problem. I’ll bet from a cask or keg this beer is just fine.

500 ml bottle from LCBO. Pours a clear amber with small disappearing slightly off-white head. Pleasant malt aroma with light hopiness. Bitter hops are more prominent in flavour but so is a metallic-ness towards the finish - ugh. Disappointing.

Taste liked skunked Heineken. The only good think about this beer was it’s color. It doesn’t even smell good. Don’t waste your time.