Shepherd Neame Goldings (Bottle)

Brewed by Shepherd Neame
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Faversham, England

Serve in English pint

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22 July 2008: This is my first English beer since a beer trip to Belgium and all that entails (drinking heavy alcohol brews with complex tastes and flavours. Anyway, this clear 500ml bottle has been sat awaiting my attention for some time, even though it has a long life left (Apr 2009). The label claims it is a ’Summer Hop Ale’. Poured into my new La Chouffe glass (two and a half times). It was a lovely amber colour with a huge off-white head, pretty as a picture. It doesn’t say so, but I am assuming it is hopped with Goldings. The aroma is certainly hoppy, even when served chilled as requested on the bottle. Dry and tangy taste with the hops completely dominating the malted barley and whatever the other ingredients that may have been used. Typical watery English Bitter feel, but it still has a presence and you know it has 4.7% alcohol within. Plenty of hops for us Brits, no where near the amount some US hopheads would prefer, but that would unbalance the beer in my opinion. Not bad at all. Sheperd Neame produce a lot of ’Supermarket type beers’, this is one of their better ones.

Pourd copper with white head. Biscuits, citrus and wood. Enough hops to make it interesting.

A cracking looking beer! Deep amber in colour with a good, long lasting white head that lasts well. Nose is fairly spicy (hops) with a hint of toffe-ish malt, rather nice! Medium bodied, with a touch of sweet malt and well balanced hops. I was expecting this to be HOPPY..... in yer face!!! as it’s brewed by Shepherd Neame, and I often find their beers to be overly, harshly hoppy, but I was pleasantly surprised! A very good beer, I thought it would’ve scored higher, but there you go! We can’t all be the same, can we?

4.7%, amber colour with no head, hop aroma, a very light beer with a hint of new mown grass

UPDATED: FEB 27, 2012 Bottle. Golden amber colour with a bobbly head. Light fruity yeasty and sweet aroma. Fresh malty and hoppy flavour. Medium carbonation. A summer cracker :-))

Bottle. Amber-golden with a moderately frothy head. Aroma is malty, hay, quite fruity (strawberry, blackcurrant, citrus), with some toffee and some resiny hops. Taste is fairly light and crisp, a bit sourish, malty-fruity, light body, with a medium bitterness and an aftertaste of resin, pepper and nuts. Very refreshing summer ale.

Pours amber with a low head. Aroma is caramel malts. Flavor is malts, caramel and some hops in the finish. Quite decent ale.

500 ml bottle.
Pours a beautiful copper colour with a white firm head. Aroma of honey, nutty malts and some weak pine needles. Flavour of nutty malts, honey and sweet Goldings hops. Also some unpleasant metallic notes. Medium bodied, soft carbonation and a finish of nutty malts and metals. Something is a bit off here and I’m not a big fan of Goldings.

Originally rated July 2006. This ESB pours an amber-caramel colour with an off-white creamy head. Retention is pretty good and a good amount of lace is formed all-around. Over-average carbonation. The nose is powerful, with some mild caramel malt, a touch of roasted malts and the hop that this brew is named. Slightly creamy mouthfeel as the head is still there in the first few sips, and then becomes kind of watery. Nice roller-coaster of taste, starting off with some light bitterness going through the caramel to then land with some biscuit malt. A very pleasant ESB for a hot summer night, like the one tonight.

Rating from an old notebook. Bottle. Deep gold. Boiled malt aroma. Boiled malt flavour. Whatever beer that was here was destroyed by the pasteurisation. Unpleasant.