3 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
Bottled, from Sainsburys. Bronze, thin but lasting white head and gentle condition. Low earthy hops and caramel in the nose, gentle balance of fruity hop and roast barley in the mouth, becoming bitter (part hops and part roast barley) in the finish alhough some sweetness remains.
2.3 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 4/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 9/20
550ml bottle. Pours a dark brown with a small head. Aroma is vanilla, caramel malt and boiled sweets. Taste has some stewed fruit to start. Skunky caramel and toffee finish. Watery.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Red-brown colour. Thick head. Warming malt aroma. Soft texture, very smooth and easy to drink. Flavour could do with a touch more bitterness.
2.9 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 12/20
First rate in a year and a half?? Clear bottle from B+M. Cold and uncomplicated with generic pasteurised nuttiness and marzipan notes. Quite a bit of aniseed as it warms up. Aroma of marzipan, caramel, faint cabbage, ganja and fennel. Bright red with fine white foam. Poor man’s Newkie Brown. Thin and dead, but not unpleasant.
2.4 AROMA 4/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 9/20
Deep mahogany hue with a foamy off white head. Fruity nose. Fruity and toffee flavour and hints of rust. Standard stuff.
2.7 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 10/20
Bottled, pasteurised, 500ml. Brown to copper beer with short fizzed head. Initially a heavy impact of CO2, tinny and cardboardy, but when this disappears there is a general flatness to the beer and taste. Malty, toffee caramel body and a sweet finish. Unremarkable really.
2.7 AROMA 1/10 APPEARANCE 1/5 TASTE 1/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 20/20
A non-live bottle. Injected fizz. Boiled sweets and toffee. A pleasant beer for the kids. An alcopop!
2.9 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 12/20
Clear orange-brown with off-white lasting head. Decent lacings. The beer is fruity (grape and lime) and has quite som toffey. Thin on the palate.
2.7 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 5/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 11/20
Bottle from Sainsbury’s. Vaux were once a bit of a brewing force in the North East of England. They had a good number of pubs selling solid but unremarkable real ales like Double Maxim and Wards Sheffield Best Bitter. They even owned the Caledonian Brewery (Lorimer and Clarks before the MBO) and used it to churn out ’Scotch Bitter’. Anyhoo, they sold up to a hotel chain who didn’t want to brew. This is an unremarkable malty premium bitter in the northern style. Some people must hold fond memories of it but I really don’t see any point in resurrecting it. Oh, well.
2.7 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 10/20
Bottle. Nose is subtle. Looks good. A bit thin and a bit overcarbed going down, but some nice toffee malt presence. Essentally, the flavour is good but afterwards it burns a little and makes you burp too much and leaves an astringency in the mouth - it’s like it has tried a little too hard to be all things to all drinkers and ended up at the lowest common denominator.
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