Greene King Strong Suffolk (Olde Suffolk)

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

Serve in English pint, Snifter

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UPDATED: DEC 27, 2006 Sept, 2002. Bottle - vintage 1998 with 10 months to go on the best before date. Started brilliantly with woody, malty, soft fruit and sour fruit notes, but then smoothed out into a cloying sweet malt flavour that gradually lost depth and became rather boring. [3.1]
Oct, 2003. Bottle in The Lower Bell. Smells and tastes like a vintage ale - there is a mustiness which verges on the slightly not quite pleasant. The carbonation is just harsh enough to be intrusive. I don’t like fizz which is why I don’t drink cola or lemonade. The malty taste is pleasant enough, but the fizz detracts from the pleasure. [2.8]
Nov, 2005 This beer doesn’t work for me. It’s based on an ancient and interesting tradition in which nearly three years are spent in brewing, storing and blending two different beers. But then it is filtered and pasteurised, so reducing potentially interesting character. When the forced co2 is allowed to burn off, the flavour does reveal itself. It does taste interestingly old and stale, as well as sweet and dark with bitter hops. But there’s a processed malt vinegar flavour, and a barley sugar flavour and some soaked hops reduced to a dull earthy bitterness. The soaked hops do a decent enough job of providing interest, and it can drink quite pleasantly, but on the whole this beer doesn’t rise to expectations. [2.8]
May, 2006 Blind tasting: Quite dark. A deep mahogany red/brown. Quite syrupy. Quite hop soaked and bitter. Bit of sourness and a bit of fruit. Interesting, but a bit too up front. A bit in your face, but an OK beer. Quite strong - 7%? Unfiltered?
I wasn’t surprised to discover this was the Greene King Suffolk. My comments and scoring of this beer blind and aware are similar. But, considering my strong comments on the pasteurising process, I was interested to note that I felt the beer might be unfiltered. The strength, and those interesting sour notes, do create a character than can survive pasteurising. Drinking it afterwards, when I was aware of what it was, I think I have been objecting to the nature of the beer itself rather more than the pasteurising process. [2.9]
Dec, 2006 Blind tasting with Riggwelter, Old Peculier and ESB. Third place. Dark ruby brown colour - almost as dark as Old P. Soft carbonation producing an off-white lingering foam. Aroma is of cream just turning sour; belt leather; American oak cut two days ago. The beer has soft lactic notes with faint chocolate and some mild bitterness in the finish where nettle tea and gentle citric pine flavours linger along with soap. Overall quite interesting, though the lack of clarity and distinctiveness holds against it. Reasonably enjoyable. [3.0]

very pleasant beer. Classic Greene King. Dark Amber colour with good head on pouring. Malty aroma and sweetish then bitter, refreshing taste. Not too heavy to drink. Pleasant with good food. Well worth seeking out.

Dark ruby, almost dark brown, almost no foam head. smells fruity, pear. Taste is intense, toffee with pear. Interesting beer. (Rome 201205) ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Bottle, pours a dark amber with a fine head. Aroma is sweet and fruity. Flavor is strong sweet and spicy. dry finish

500ml brown bottle, unable to find a best before date, drank on 11th march 2007. Poured into a straight sleeve pint glass. Dark, very dark ruby red colour with a good foam light brown head. it looks healthy and heavy, a fine, clear sparkling liquid. Spices like corriander and some cloves in the aroma, mixed with hops and dark almost burnt malts. Nothing to strong though. I like the taste, woody with tones of caramel and toffee combine to give it a Christmas like flavour, very pleasant. The label claims some of the beer (which is a blend) has been aged for two years in oak. Which is where the woody flavour obviously comes from. Full bodied is too strong to use, but it is a well rounded beer and the aftertase and mouthfeel are impressive, the flavours stay, with a burnt feeling becoming more prominent. Greene King get a lot of stick from some of British real ale drinkers, but this is a fine beer and they should be applauded for producing it.

500ml bottle. Clear dark brown, red glow, with small lacing off-white head. Slightly alcoholic, hop counterbalanced, butterscotch and toffee aroma, a nuttily note. Nuttily taste, citrus sprinkles, a touch of orange cest. Slightly watery finish.

Aroma light molasses and caramel, a toasty taste, light across palate with very small bubbles with a kinda burnt finish. The appearance is the best part with a really dark amber color. Great beer.

Bottle from the local Yamaya discount liquor shop. Aromas of candied dark fruit. Very dark brown with some ruby highlights and thin tan head. Strong caramel flavors with notes of smoke. Very good balance. Overall, quite smooth, with some metallic tingle on the tongue and a long but mild aftertaste. A well-done blend.

Bottle: Filtered. Marketed in the United States as Olde Suffolk. A blend of two ales: Old 5X , which is brewed to the maximum strength possible (around 12% abv) and left to mature in 100-barrel oak vats for a minimum of two years, and BPA, a dark, full-bodied freshly brewed beer which is added just before bottling.

Bottle shared at home tasting. Clear brown pour with tan head. Aroma of fruits, fudge and malts. Malt, oak, caramel, fruit flavour. Medium body and carbonation.

50cl bottle courtesy of Kermis. Thin white head. Clear amber pour. Interesting aftertaste. Pretty nice.