 imdownthepub (3995), Banbury, Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire, England
Oct 13, 2007
Cask conditioned at Oxford Beer Fest ’07. Clear pale gold with white head. I really loved this beer, its superbly hoppy and dry, just the way I like it, a bittersweet background, thin anda touch Burtonised and a slight fragrant wheatiness. Then the hops and lots of them, grassy, grapefruit and luscious, an absolute belter and my beer of this festival.
Ethereal (869), London, Greater London, England
Dec 26, 2007 Cask at The Cat’s Back, Wandsworth, 12th Oct 2007. Gold with a white head. Aroma of hops, oranges and barley. Refreshing hoppy taste but a bit flat. The Cat’s Back have lost their way when it comes to keeping beer in good condition, so I suspect this would be better elsewhere.
Fin (2164), Merton, Oxfordshire, England
Oct 15, 2007 Cask conditioned at Oxford Beer Festival 12-10-07 Thanks to Glen who went and fetched this for me whilst I did a little stint behind the Foreign Beer stand. Poured pale golden, great aroma of grapefruit wafts out from this. Tasted lovely a perfect balance between wonderful sweet maltiness and lovely juicy fruitiness with nice crisp refreshing zinginess every so often to just wake up and refresh those taste buds along with Appleford River Crossing one of my beers of the evening and a great recommendation from Glen.
hughie (2150), Bedford, Bedfordshire, England
Oct 8, 2006 Cask at Bedford BF ’06. Very pale gold with a small white head. Sweet malt and fruit aroma. Sweet, malt taste and minimal bitterness. Good summery beer.
ESBman (50), Andover, Bedfordshire, England
Sep 18, 2006 Tasted at the Magpie&Crown, Brentford, W. London, on 2 September 2006. It turned out the freshest beer available that day.
Appearance: dark yellow in colour, slightly murky, coming with a nice and sustaining white foamy head and low carbonation.
Smell: lovely grapefruity aroma and a touch of elderflowery scent upfront... a swirl brings out a lemony, dryish mineral/flint-stone note of dry white wine (e.g. Sauvignon Blanc)... slightly sulphurous at the back. Very pleasantly hoppy and fruity.
Taste: juicy grapefruits on top of a milder lychee-like fruity hoppy base, with a mild trace of lemony Sauvignon Blanc (exactly like on the nose) plus tropical fruity Gewürztraminer ... slowly leading towards a mildly spicy (Goldings-like), and grapefruit-zesty tangy bitterness lingering with a good depth. However, it doesn’t stop here, no--a pinch of salt gives a kickback in the long aftertaste, with refreshingly biscuity maltiness to follow the main theme of hops. Very nice indeed...
Palate: refreshing on the mouthfeel, with lots of tiny fizziness to chew on the tongue... yet the hoppyness also renders a soothing and flavoursome palate. Overall, a very quaffable and nicely hoppy Blond Bitter--delicious!! I rarely drink more than a half pint of the same beer in a free house offering more than four micro-brews, yet I paid for 3 halves of this beer...
P.S. Only after writing this note at the pub did I gather from the brewery’s website that it’s actually brewed to be a wheat beer, with wheat malts constituting 40% of the grist!! Crikey!
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