Greene King Strong Suffolk (Olde Suffolk)

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

Pours cola-like, ruby red / dark brown, lots of big bubbles and a fizzy tan head. Sweet molasses and dark fruit aroma. Very very thin body, low carbonation. Really reminds me of Bink Bloesem. Honey and vinous nutty malt flavor. Lots and lots of wood, must be young barrels, minimal amount of vanilla/wax. The combo of dark fruits and strong oak gives a great long lasting sherry finish, even though the initial flavor isn’t very strong. Somewhat vacant. Easy drinking, maybe too much so, wish it had a little bit more in the body. Now I really want to try Old 5X.

Perhaps we have gotten a bad bottle. Pours a deep dark brown thanks to the caramel color. Sugary aroma with a bit of the cask. Taste is very sweet, slight alcohol, and molasses. Not too carbonated but thin on the palate which was dissapointing.

2000 bottle 0.5L. Pours a reddish brown with a beige head. Aroma is warm with pronounced notes of oaky vanilla and butter together with some dried fruits. Flavour is sweet and a bit tart with some bitterness. Notes of oaky butter, dried fruit and a hint of alcohol. Tasty (a 0.33L bottle would have been enough though).

Bottle. Average size, creamy, light brown diminishing head with good lacing. Clear nut-brown body. Aroma of caramel, toffee, raisin, dried fruit, plum, port, cask wood and brown sugar. Full body, oily texture, alcoholic, bitter finish. The flavour is moderate/heavy sweet and moderate bitter. A nice, complex beer.

An old ale with a ncie dark ruby colour and an unmistakable aroma of english yeast, malt and some oaky hints. The flavour is round with some oak and a slight toasty note. Rounded, slight bitter finish. Not a favorite, but wellbrewed...

Very nice supprise, since the other two brews i’ve had from Greene King has been pretty disappointing. Clear deep red look with a very small brown head that doesnt last for long. Vinouse and very oaky/eartheren aroma along with raisin. The body and flavor is remarkable powerfull considering the abv, again the vinouse and oaky notes stand out along with bitter nuts. Amazing beer.

This is the first beer in our June 11th Old Ale Blind Tasting. It finished in a respectable 3rd place. Courtesy of fishingnet.

It pours brown with nice tan head. It has a pretty big aroma of dates minced in caramel. It seems pretty complex with some notes tough to discern. I get toffee, sweet dark grapes and fudge mixed with dark clay like mud. The taste seems thin to start things off. I get dates and grape jelly to go along with an earthiness and mild malt to caramel sweetness way in the back. I get just a hint of hop bitterness in the finish. Really dark fruity tasting beer.

Pours clear amber with tan head. The aroma is a perfumy combination of caramel candy, wood, malty sweetness and dark fruity esters. The taste begins smooth and malty then builds toward sweet dark fruity grape, cherry and plum ester notes. As the finish approaches wood and caramel notes surface and carry on into the after taste.

Had a wonderful complex aroma, malt, fruits and molded cheese (for me it is an exception to mention cheese when describing beer). The taste was clean and tart – really drinkable and very enjoyable.