RCH Ale Mary

Brewed by RCH
Style: English Strong Ale
Weston-super-Mare, England

Serve in English pint, Trappist glass

Poured amber with a large lasting white head. Nice lace too. Aroma dominated by ginger, with some nutmeg and cinnamon behind it. Sweet brown sugar start with a lingering spicy finish. Loads of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Slightly floral taste there too. Very interesting beer, and full bodied too.

Beautiful aroma of spices, baked stone fruits, plum pudding, malt. Complex and not overly agressive. So far so good! Deep copper color with mild carbonation once poured, but it doesn’t take much to produce a huge tight craggy head. Sometimes this means a beer that has expired. Lets hope it does not in this case. Taste is mild, subtle. Almost like having a cask beer in a bottle. This is very satisfying. Nice subtle complexities of malt, fruitiness and spices. A bit overly carbonated, as I pour the bottle bit by bit I keep getting a head like a root beer float. But the finish is subtle. Makes you search for the flavors and they are there if you look for them. Not unlike a Samuel Smith’s Winter Welcome. Nice beer.

UPDATED: JAN 15, 2006 It poured a hazy deep amber color with a foamy off-white, nearly tan head. The initial aroma was a sweet floral one, followed quickly by a lot of spiciness, cloves, peppers, cinnamon... Delicious spiced-up flavor with a solid underlying malt. Good mouthfeel. I like this stuff.

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"Ale Mary", eh? I’d been preparing myself to brainstorm some faith-based jocularity, until I realized that this beer comes pre-punned. The label is adorned with a portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots, the 16th century princess who lost her life for her crimes against Elizabeth 1. Around her likeness, this slogan circles: "A beautifully executed bottle conditioned ale." Oh, ho, ho,ho, ho! I tried to avoid the rest of the label’s text in order to form my own personal judgement. And so... Color is hazy, dark amber, and the head is huge with foam, lacey and fluffy. The nose is abuzz with citric hops, as well as some stronger and sharper flavors, that push this winter warmer a little closer, but not quite, toward a barleywine. "A little vinous, more raisiny, plummy flavors arrive on the palate, with sweet associations of brandy and rum. On the palate, quite sweet, in fact, perfectly so. Never cloying, not a touch of bitterness, either. Hops show up a bit before too long, and display a delightful play upon the tongue. Quite a bit of yeast here, too, and it contributes largely to the taste and mouthfeel. Full-bodied, malty, tangy, toasty, and delicious. A British Winter Warmer I fully enjoyed. If I’d read the label beforehand, I’d have been watching out for the "warm and sweet aroma of cloves, coriander and ginger." And "the palate provides touches of rum, raisins and sultanas." I got some of that, but what is a "sultana"? Webster’s defines it as a "small, seedless raisin." So, we learned something new today, thanks to beer labels! Hail Ale Mary!

Medium amber color. Medium sized tight foamy head. Aroma is nutty, fruity, sweet and spicy. A medium bodied ale. Malts are fruity and sweet. Lots of ginger, coriander, cloves and cinnamon. Its not really a appetizing mix, and what in the frell is PIMENTO doing in there. There is also something I am assuming is spice oil. GAHHH. Sorry, guv this one is NOT my cup of tea. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.

Sept 2002. Bottle. We are now into 2002 and this ale has developed a bit since it was first introduced in 1998. It has a supreme spread of complex flavours firmly fixed into a solid if slightly sweet body. Wonderfully refreshing, especially considering the strength and the complexity. This doesn’t taste like a 6.0% ale at all. Very light and certainly very moreish. Plenty of spice notes including ginger, fennel and nutmeg, mixed with citric fruits, especially grapefruit, then balanced out with dark fruits and a hint of rum. An absolutely splendid beer, only spoiled by the over sweetness. [3.4]
Aug 2004: Bottle Conditioned. BBE Nov 05. This was part of a Christmas gift pack from my daughter, so I’ve already had this beer for 8 months, yet it still has 15 months to go. That’s impressive confidence for a British beer. And fully justified. The beer has enough body and is clean enough to hold the spice oils. Warming and interesting. Like subjecting your mouth to a Turkish massage. [3.7]

Pours a clouded copper body with a huge frothy tan head. One of the tallest heads I’ve ever seen! Aroma is nicely spiced. You can smell the ginger and cloves. Some lighter floral hops present as well. For some reason, the aroma makes me think of Christmas. Taste is nicely malted and sweet with the spices adding a nice twist to it. Some lighter cocoa mixed with fruit, more ginger, while the cinnamon becomes evident. Bet this would go nicely with warm gingerbread cookies. Palate is full while being strongly carbonated and nicely spiced. Finish is more of the taste but allows some hop character to come through towards the end. What a nice surprise as I was expecting the worst from this. Damn good beer and very drinkable!

The beer came in a bottle with a panting of a dignified Mary, Quenn of Scots, on the label. The ale poured reddish-orange in color with a thin head that tenaciously hung on over it. The aroma was very Belgian in its spiciness. The floral spicy bouquet reminded me almost immediately of the dry potpourri leaves that are kept in little glass jars. The taste was quite sweet with a nice touch of spiciness. I could detect cherries, raisins, grapes, pineapples and other fruits in there. The spices I could detect were ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. This beer definitely will be at home during a Christmas dinner. There was almost no hop bitterness to speak of. The finish is a bit dry with some spiced alcohol burn in the throat and the belly. It has a medium mouthfeel that is quite sticky due to the inherent sweetness of the beer. This is not a beer that would be good to drink every day. But when winter rolls around this year, I’ll be in the mood for another one by the old Yule log.