Greene King IPA Export Strength

Not a bad bitter, but not in the same category as their Strong Suffolk. Pours amber with thin white head. Has some nice floral bitterness with sweet caramel notes. Needs more hops to be an IPA.

Bottle - 500ml. Limpid amber body with good garbonation and a thin off-white frothy head. Fair but rather thin malty/hoppy aroma with some caramel hints. Decent hoppy taste that carries malty and oaky notes. Ends with a short bitter finish. Drinkable. However, this is not my idea of a good, sharp IPA.

Mah............ non sapeva proprio di niente....... mi dispiace! Poviu Ale.

bottle: What a pleasant suprise this was! First off, this is not an IPA as the labels says, it is a bitter so judge it on those criteria . . and it has it all. On pouring, you could immediately smell caramel and wonderful malts (how man beers can you rave about on pouring??) Some fruitiness, but great toffee or carmamel notes. Of course it is bitter (but not in a strong IPA way) so it is lacks the IPA style hops, but the flavours & malts make this a very smooth finish & amazing drinkability. As a ESB, this is really high quality. How the English make such amazing dark beers with so much flavour is pure genius! How they can mis-name it an IPA must be a cross cultural problem, throwing off all these North American reviews.

Floral and citrusy nose with a little biscuit and caramel. Clear, reddish chestnut with a lacy, white cover that lasts. Flavour begins a bit thin and mineral watery and then develops into a pleasant toffee and biscuit that is complimented nicely by bitterness and flowers. Interestingly, the flavours sort of quickly fade out at the end of the taste, leaving a sourish, raincidy hops taste and feel. Medium to light body, moderate carbonation, unpleasant sour finish.

500ml Bottle: Pours a thin, red-orange colour with almost no head. What head was there didn’t stay long. Not unexpected from a long-traveled clear bottle but the initial aroma is skunk, some hops, and brown sugary malts. Flavour is lemon, dry white wine, toffee, light rye bread, and caramel. All a bit muted, and the whole package is a bit underwhelming. Not bad, but I question the IPA promise on the label.

Bottle: Poured a clear deep orangey color ale with a medium size foamy head with OK retention and minimal lacing. Aroma of dry English style hops with some dry malt. Taste is also quite dry with some noticeable hops with a medium bitter finish. Medium body with OK carbonation. I thought this was a bit too dry and lacking in floral notes.

bottle. Poured clear red-amber with off-white head. Pungent hop aroma, almost skunky. Medium mouthfeel, malty body. Citrus earthy notes. Medium bitterness, but less than traditional IPA’s which makes this one very easy to drink