Southampton Old Herb

[Bottle 289 - the one pictured] An unclear dark red beer with no head. The aroma is sweet with notes of hops, grass, and alcohol. The flavor is sweet and very hoppy and grassy, so much that it bites the tongue. A very nice beer. Thanks to Jeppe (Bierkönig) for sharing this bottle.

(Bottle 35,5 cl) Courtesy of Degarth. Bottle #95/500. Hazy, amber golden with a small, rough, off-white head. Fat aroma of overripe fruit and caramel. Very solid body with plenty of caramel, overripe fruit and an almost burning alcohol. Spicy, vanilla-like finish with the alcohol really shining. 051007

35.5 cL bottle 95 out of 500. Pours deep orange with a lacing white head. Sweet and herbal nose. Sweet and herbal flavour with a distinct liqourice note in a long lasting finish. Quite warming alcohol finish.

Date: 10/28/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Trade

muddy dark amber, fine beige head, sweet caramel malt with earthy hop aroma, hint of brown sugar shows up eventually, thick body, rich caramel malt favor, a dose of alcohol, gritty brown sugar sweetness, well balanced,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **4

Fiery amber; slightly hazy. Lots of bitterness. Hop juice style, but a good dose of thick chewy malt. Could be a good one, but it’s young now. $9 US for a 341ml bottle- yikes!

Hazy amber color. Powerful malty aroma, with caramel, wood, light apples and lately some alcohol too. Good body strength, with powerful malty flavor and caramel/toffee, strong bitterness too; well balanced; the alcohol warms the mouth just a bit. The final too is well balanced, with a lot of sticky sugars and enough bitterness. Excellent.

(2004, bottle #431) Hazy copper body topped by a small beige head. Aroma is first and foremost that which I associate with barleywine. Individual components include medium sweet, caramel, plum/raisin, grapefruit, some orange peel, vanilla, alcohol. Taste is medium sweet, caramel/toffee, grapefruit, some herbal/spice. The finish is grapefruit and some pine, along with medium alcohol warming. Medium-full body, some stickiness. Good stuff.

2002: Dark Copper, not much foam. Mostly hoppy aroma, bold hops really, reminding me of Chinook with plenty of piney and grapefruity nuances. At the same time, a nutty and interesting chocolatey aspect aspires to more room, though it never manages to attain the hops’ intensity. On the palate, it comes out rather earthy, pretty mineral and somehow salty. Taken globally, it feels rather uncohesive which is really not Southampton at all, lacking in flavour and balance. Stone-like dryness clears out the rest in its boldness. At the same time, mouthfeel is adequate at best, a thin-medium body with sharp carbonation.
2004: Integration here was superior to 2002’s. Much more malt is around to balance out a lesser amount of hops resulting into a much more tolerable dryness level. It’s mostly full bodied, bold, smoky with pinesol like hops in the finish. This one would score 3.7 while the 2002 would score 3.3.