Morland Hens Tooth

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

Good as a curiosity. It’s misleading to compare to Old Speckled Hen which is a very different beer. This loses a bit without the creaminess of it’s pub ale siblings. Good flavors in general, however. Lots of yeast which a touch of malty sweetness and a dash of hops.

Yeasty as a, well, I’ll skip that metaphor. Very thick and hearty, deep orange color, hoppy smell and taste. A classic strong ale. Makes me want to home brew. This is kind of what I wish Speckled Hen would taste like.

5 full effort-points for appearance... the huge chunks of yeast in this deep red/orange ale were daunting yet appealing and were complimented by an impossibly large head on such a slow pour trying to keep them in the bottle. Instantly greeted with a harsh hoppy aroma that was piney and slightly glandular... a bit over the top. Sweet honey in the flavor (that might balance better with aging), and a smooth, chewy mouthfeel.

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Bottled. Deep dark amber colour. Nice lacing inside the glass - the alcohol does the trick. Marzipan-like malt nose, a little stale feel(is it the English hops?) to the aroma really. Rich malty flavour with, seemingly, pumpernickel notes and nutty. Some grassiness is also there. Sweetish. The mouthfeel is quite smooth. Full bodied. And dry!

Bottle fermented. The colour is medium dark amber; the finger thick beige foam dissolves into a thing lid rather quick. Looks nice to me!

The smell is quite delicate; lots and lots of aroma hops, chocolate chip brownies (!), and a sour - metallic touch.

The carbonation is soft, mellow and very pleasant, perfectly for this style.

The taste is full of full-bodied, somewhat sweet malt; there are notes of diacetyl (toffee), Ceylon tea, salt gravy, chocolate-toffee and sweet dough. The finish got subtle notes of sour yeast and dry hops.

I really liked this ale, and I found it very enjoyable although the label text, which goes something like ”the closest thing to a real ale that you can get in a bottle”, isn’t really true. I will get back to this one!

Thin-bodied English bottle-conditioned strong ale. Appearance: bloody quick - lost about a quarter of the frothing bottle upon opening. Bottle-brown colour with a big frisky head. Apples and caramel in the aroma. Dry raisiny finish. Bit too thin in the body for the abv. (Bottle)

Bottle. Smells like skunky cherry cough syrup. Tastes like a cheaply made geuze with an alka-seltzer thrown in. Slightly sour, cherry, bitter, and ashy. This is one of the worst beers that I have had in a long, long time.

if it is put in a clear bottle it deserves to have the skunk count against it. poured dark brown with a minimalring of white bubbles for a head. aroma is skunk and sour. taste is geuze like but in a horribly bad way. sour vinegar taste with an oily finish. this was not good.