3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
(cask) not too bad actually, a bit sticky at times, caramelly malt, with some nice citric acidity in the finish, tasted fresh, nice bitterness on the finish.
3.1 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 2/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 12/20
Draught, Surrey. A good nose and a good flavour, but the mouthfeel is offputting - a bit soapy. Finish was ok.
2.6 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 8/20
Cask-conditioned @ JDW Soton. Lemons, peaches, hops and spices in the nose. Caramel sweetness and grassy bitterness. All the right elements were there but this just didnt do it for me.
2.5 AROMA 2/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
hand pulled, matravers, dorset.
Found this beer in a little pub in dorset. Nice head to start, although it faded a little over drinking. Pleasant golden colour, found some flavour, and hung on to it, finishing nicely in the end.
0.5 AROMA 1/10 APPEARANCE 1/5 TASTE 1/10 PALATE 1/5 OVERALL 1/20
Cask Conditioned, Hit or Miss, Penn Street, Bucks. The pub obviously didn't flush their pipes after cleaning them... bleachy taste. While it may not have been a hazard to the heath, it was a disgusting thing I wouldn't normally rate a beer low thats blatently ruined by the pub, but it was a Hall and Woodhouse tied house, and after complaining about the pub in the past it's pretty obvious that the brewery aren't willing to do anything to insure the quality of the beer that this pub serves.
3.3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
This was the cask version, believed to be still brewed at the Gribble brewery, as opposed to the bottled version which now comes out of the Badger brewery. As is to be expected, the cask is better than the pasteurised bottle. Standard amber colour. Some aromatic citric hop character and just a hint of sweet malt. Crisp and moderately dry finish. A rather pleasant, if commonplace, best bitter. Handpump, Ship & Shovell, Charing Cross, London.
2.9 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
UPDATED: MAY 4, 2004 Cask Conditioned at The Queen Mary's Gate, Arundel, Sussex. Red brown colour with smallish head. Toffee caramel malty beer, a little too sweet then a long bitter flowery finish. O.k but have had many better.
Re Rate - The bottle was much spritzier than the cask, one of the few times I have prefered the bottle.
3.5 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 13/20
As I sat finish a different half-pint, I kept being distracted by the magnificent shade of copper-red in this one. Shall I compare thee to a summer's sunset? Keeps a ring of off-white head. Rich, deep malty flavor, little bits of caramel candy, with a strong vein of fruit, particularly grape. Unassuming palate, and as it warms, it dances perilously close to the abyss of watery emptiness...but it avoids that and so remains an enjoyable beer. The publican who served it says this is brewed by Badger via Arkells, perhaps explaining the comparison to Badger Champion. (on tap, Far From the Madding Crowd, Oxford)
3.9 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 17/20
UPDATED: OCT 16, 2005 June, 2003:Cask, Jolly Drayman, Gravesend. Fresh on. Wow! Chewy, but not dense, mouthfeel. Leather rubbed with sticky toffee flavour. Some licorice sneaking through, along with Irn Bru (a Scottish soft drink) and aniseed. Soft, slightly watery finish with aniseed returning and lingering. Yeast and aniseed in the aroma. A spanking ale. [3.9]
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