Gwatkin Oldfield Perry

Brewed by Gwatkin Cider
Style: Perry
Hereford, England

Serve in Flute, Stem glass

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Cask (gravity) @ GBBF 2010, Great British Beer Festival, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, London, England.

Light light unclear light matt grey yellow color with a fizzy - virtually none, white head. Aroma is moderate pear, butter. Flavor is moderate to light light heavy sweet and light acidic with a average to long duration, dry dry, floured ! Body is medium, texture is oily to watery, carbonation is flat. [20100806]

Cask at Southampton Arms, London. A light yellow perry with a slight haze. The aroma is of fresh pears. The flavor is sweet with strong notes of pears, but also with a slight acidity, that tickles the palate a bit, but generally on the sweet side. The finish is slightly tart.

From cask at Southampton Arms. Pours pale and slight hazy yellow to greenish with no lasting head. Aroma is acidic and citrusy fruity. Mild acetone in the perry based flavour. Dry and acidic flavoured. Light acetone into the finish. Despite the strange notes I like this one.

Cask@The Southampton Arms. Pale yellow colour, small white head. Aroma is pear, wood, yeast and some mild vinegary notes. Flavour is quite similar with quite much sweetnes, sulphur and spices as well.

UPDATED: SEP 7, 2010 1. From a Container at the Labour Club, Glossop 30/08/2003 (Take out from Peterborough Beer Festival) 2. Cask Handpump at the Southampton Arms, Kentish Town 01/08/2010 Big fruit aroma. Clear golden coloured and fruity with lots of tannin. A little dryness in a creamy finish. 3. Cask Stillage at the GBBF, Earl’s Court 06/08/2010 Tannin. Light golden coloured and fruity with a dry lasting finish.

A Mes rate. Cask at the Jolly Butchers.
Murky lemon yellow. About as perry looking as a perry can be. Strange snout. Massive pears for sure but there is something odd I can put my finger on. It smells a little like ladies stockings. Hmm, well that explains why it’s really inviting then. There’s a slight musky mead-like character too. Yup I’m liking this so far. Crikey. That’s a real smack in the chops. Amazing tart pear flavour. Really good wood and lemony acidity with some intense but never overpowering sweet notes. This is full on stuff. Amazingly juicy. It storms around the palate bagging a wooden spoon on a saucepan and demanding to be attended to. The finish is truly epic. Amazing length. Christ on a bike. This is a big one. I don’t want it to finish. Luckily it seems like it’s not going to. Each sip just adds to the intensity of what is already in the mouth. Bloody brilliant perry.

Cask at Jolly Butchers. Pours dull, cloudy yellow with basically no head. Aroma hold faint pears, sweat, lots of vinegar, and must. Flavor has a quick, sweet beginning, then things get real. Very sour, with lots of vinegar, some tart fruit, faint funk, and a bit of salt. It’s weird, and I love it. Light to medium in body with sharp, tingly carbonation. The finish does have some fruity sweetness but it is mostly about the sourness. Absolutely lip-puckering, eye-squinting sour. Once I swallow the liquid I can get a lot more of the perry character, but while drinking this stuff my mouth and throat are all a flutter. Fantastic.

UPDATED: MAY 10, 2008 Bottle from garden centre, near Wellington, Herefordshire Poured light golden, nice peary nose but also a bit wine like in character. Wonderfully juicy and given a little time in the mouth this really had quite a good depth of flavour. Not as good as the Rathays which was a stunner but very nice all the same. Polypin at Banbury Beer Festival 09-05-08 Cloudy lemon colour looks like Robinsons barley water. Very slightly sour nose but with some overipe pears. The taste is just superb, this i sweet admiitedly but those pears just feel like that oozing ripeness and oh bugger it this is one you just have to drink and forget about words, I loved it, little tangy bite back at the end, my beer/cider/perry of the fetival and this has now been updated to a 4.1

Appearance
Clear(1)->Murky(5) : 4   Pale(1)->Dark(5) : 2   Still(1)->Sparkling(5) : 1
Aroma
Intensity : 5  
Yeast : 4   Bread : XX   Hay: 3   Brett : 2   Floral: 3   Wood: 4   Leather: 3   Barnyard : 2   Medicine : XX   Phenols: XX   Cheese : 2   Vinous: 3  
Notes: Caramel : XX   Honey : 2   Applesauce: XX   Appleskin : XX Pear : 4   Tropical FruitsXX  
Flavor
Initial Flavor : Dry(1)->Sweet(5) : 3   Finish Dry(1)->Sweet(5) : 3 Juicy: 3   Sourness : 4   Bitterness: XX   Farmy : 4   Complex: 2   Length : XX
Palate
Light(1)->Full(5) : 3   Flat(1)->Fizzy(5) : 2 Chewy: XX   Sharp: 3   Chalk : XX   Astringence : 2   Tea tannins : 2   Alcohol : XX
Comments: Gwatkin’s absolute masterpiece in my mind and probably my favourite perry. Extremely fresh, very aromatic and well balanced.

At the cider festival, the Royal Oak, Bath 13/06/09. Cloudy, pale green/yellow in colour. Aroma of sweet pears and lemon dryness. Very refreshing to drink, with plenty more fruit and a decent dry finish. Excellent.