Thornbridge Hark

Brewed by Thornbridge
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Bakewell, England

Serve in English pint

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Cask handpull at The Market Porter. Gold, slight haze, lassting off white head. Even slightly pilsner like on the hop, good biting freshness. I like it a lot, refreshing spring beer. Little bit of dust, but really good, I liked it. Could have drunk loads. Good fruitiness.

Cask conditioned at The White Horse, Parsons Green. Burnished gold with white head. Another fine beer from Thornbridge, hoppy, fresh and crisp. Lemony, grapefruit notes with a slightly herbal finish. Great stuff.

Cask at Euston Tap. Clear gold pour, sturdy white head. Great citrus hops in the nose, orange and honey, light bread. Really nice flavor, plenty of juiciness, more orange, mild caramel and bread, nice bitters, light earth. Light to medium in body with good, average carbonation. Bit more bread in the finish, rindy, leafy and earthy bitters in the throat, good citrusy sugars. Nice beer.

More good work from Thornbridge. They do make very good ’standard’ type English ales. Gold with a lasting thin white head. Clean hop aroma. Nice vanilla, some fruit and hops in the flavour. Nice.

Cask Handpump at the Assembly Rooms, Derby 05/01/2007 Hop and spice aromas. Golden coloured hoppy fruity and spicy coriander. Some dryness in a crisp and creamy bitter finish.

Cask at NWAF, Manchester 21.01.11 Pours clear gold with white bubbly head, good clarity and good condition to this. There is a little bit of popcorn in the background, touch of soapy hops and the bitterness stays on throughout. A6 A5 T7 P4 Ov13 3.5

8 3/4 Pint Mini cask. This is hard for me. On one hand this is a well crafted ale, and on that basis I have given it a relatively high-ish mark, but on the other hand and on a Thornbridge scale of marking it would have scored a lot lower. My main gripe, is that Thornbridge is capable of making some of the best, most interesting ale that this country has to offer, but this is neither interesting nor wintery... It is to all intense and purposes a "Blonde," a very good one, but a Blonde all the same. On a universal scale his is a very competent brew, on a Thornbridge scale, however, this is close to being bland and rather safe... But on with rather more objective comments: Aroma has that classic T’bridge grapefruit/citrus hop aroma, lovely aromatics plus some more yeasty notes and a little grass/pine in the background. Looks lovely, brilliant deep golden, small white creamy head. The flavour is pleasant, with more yeasty/bready/doughie notes, then some light maltiness all balanced by a light bitterness coming from the hops... But where is the flavour in those hops? Yes there is some citrus, and some cut grass freshness, but where are all the lovely T’bridge juicy flavours in this brew? Where is it’s unique character? This could almost be Hopback Summer Lightning! Finishes with a light bitterness and perhaps the faintest twist of mandarin. Maybe I’m missing the point here, but could someone please explain HOW this is a winter warmer? I dig subtlety, I dig restraint but this is just a little too tame for me. If it were a hot summers day this beer would be perfect, but at 10 dergrees C with a bitter wind rattling outside it does no more than remind me of summer just past - or perhaps the Sun on a crisp winters day - but that is a close to wintery as this beer gets. I love Thornbridge but this has unfortunately failed my (perhaps too high) expectations.

Cask (gravity) @ NWAF 10, National Winter Ales Festival, The Venue, Sheridan Suite, Manchester, England.

Clear medium yellow orange color with a small to average, fizzy to frothy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, sweet fruit, moderate to light light heavy hoppy, citrus, apricot. Flavor is moderate to light light heavy sweet and bitter with a long to average duration. Body is medium, texture is oily and sticky, carbonation is flat to soft. [20100122]

Derby Winter Fest 07. Golden with a small head. Aromas are apricot and lemon with sweet malts, spicy with pine. Flavours are light pine and floral hops with soft malts. Spicy hops on the finish. Quite Xmassy despite the colour.

Cask conditioned - gravity dispense - Swan & Rushes, Leicester. A golden coloured beer with chill haze. The aroma has good citricity. Nicely hoppy, possibly US stuff. The taste is sharp grapefruit and orange. I detected some ginger. Clean and tasty.