Wychwood Fiddlers Elbow (Pasteurised)

Brewed by Wychwood (Refresh UK - Marstons plc)
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Witney, England

500ml. brown bottle. Orange/copper color with a medium sized off white head that quickly dissipated. Aroma was butterscotch(not in a good way), sweet malt and some caramel. Thankfully the butterscotch aroma didn’t carry over to the flavor. Biscuity malt flavor with some toffee and a bitter hop finish. Easy drinking, but unremarkable beer.

This was my first beer by Wychwood and probably not my last. Drank this one from the bottle as a glass was not available, but tasted very good. Very clean aroma and very light hops.

This one turned out to be a reasonably easy drinker. The last Wychwood beer I had was the forgettable Black Wych and it near turned me off the brewery for life. Yet, how can you possibly steer clear of such ’attractive’ labelling. Poured into an English pint glass, clear medium copper-gold body with a slow forming lather of beige foam. Head didn’t stick around past the second gulp but left and abundance of dried legs down the glass. Differing from the rest of the ratings, my aroma was clean with a strong hint of toasted grain and caramelised sugars, and a little touch of earthy and herbal hops. Quite sweet in the mouth; husky and grainy (obviously the wheat part) and unusually flavoursome for a filtered and pasteurised beer. Medium-light bodied and spritzy in carbonation, the front was dominated by malt, yet the back changed key quickly and there was nothing but hops going through long into the swallow; sour, reasonably bitter, and raspy. My sample did show signs of oxidisation, though, but it seemed the crown cap had began to rust, which I hope had nothing to do with my cellar. Overall this wasn’t too bad a drop and maybe, just for RateBeer, the rest of the Wychwood ales may be worth tasting. Sessionable. (50cL, Int’l Beer Shop, 4.5% ABV, 14/09/05)

I guess that this is a pretty average beer. Nose isjust slightly off, but the beer does not taste skunked. Pours clear with a great head, but it vanishes almost immediately. Taste is ok, balanced but small, with malt, floral and bitter hops in harmony, and a bitter finish; a little more of everything would preserve the balance and increase the intensity. Feels good in the mouth, enough viscosity, enough carbonation. I played around with the overall rating to get it just under 3 since somehow the overall imipression of the beer is not quite as mediocre as my individual ratings would suggest.

Pours hazy amber with a quite decent white head. Fruity, acidic ale-ish aroma. Flavour from grapefruit and caramel. Some hops is present too. Watery mouthfeel.

skunky-esque aroma reminiscent of Corona. That garbage dump aroma mixed with lemon. Looks like the clear bottle has worked its magic again. Yuck...macroish flavour through and through. Premium ESB but you’d need a telescope to find the hops. Rubbery aftertaste. I passed on my request to the fiddler for him to hang it up.

Brown bottle. So they finally smartened up and got rid of the clear bottle? It’s about time. Pours a clear orange-red with a large frothy white head. Aroma was nice and skunk free -- I’ve had this beer many times and it was always skunky so it’s a pleasant change. Aroma was grainy with light floral hops, some wheat, caramel and fruit. The flavour was, unfortunately, not hoppy at all. I did taste some wheat, malt and fruit. Taste was too mild -- it’s decent but nothing special.

Clear bottle (500ml). Poured a slightly hazy amber, decent mostly white head and okay lacing. Aroma’s a little skunky, sweetish caramel malt and some sharp hop bitterness, vague sweet fruit and a bit of heather and spruce. Taste is well-balanced but incredibly faint - so light in the mouth it’s almost not there. No aftertaste at all - sweetens on warming. Not offensive but not worth having again either. Dump the clear bottle!