Wye Valley Wye Not?

Brewed by Wye Valley
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Bromyard, England

Serve in English pint, Shaker

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bottle at home ... light hazy amber ... thin white lacing ... sweet lime hop fruits nose... juicy fruits ... sweet lime and orange hop ... juicy ... nice

Bottle at home in London. Part of the Sainsburys Super Challenge. Pours a clear, highly effervescent gold with a charming, pure white foam head. Some sugary toast in the nose. Very nice flavor, extremely subtle notes of brown sugar and caramel, plenty of bread and toast, and just a slight bitterness of leaves and grass. Light to medium in body with average, crisp carbonation. Finishes clean and crisp, some toast and mild, herbal hops. The overall character is restrained and the beer is very drinkable.

Drank in Feb 2012: 500ml Brown bottle (bottle conditioned): BBD Aug 2012. Poured slowly into my Abbot Ale glass tankard. No sediment left the bottle: pale golden in colour, with a good, deep head of white foam, rising through the clear body could be seen bubble trails even though the glass has no agitator in its base. The head stayed for the whole tasting and produced some heavy lacing on the glass. The smells were of citrusy hops and yeast with a slight malt sweetness lurking in the background. The taste was very simular to the aromas: hops first, then fresh yeasts followed by some malt hints, the beer finishes in the mouth with a pleasant hop twang of bitterness. This isn’t one dimensional, the flavours move around in the mouth with the citrus hop content being the strongest element, yet without completely taking over. The 4.5%ABV is there, but it isn’t totally apparent, the hops reducing the impact of the alcohol and the yeast conditioning in the bottle seemingly making it taste fresh and young. Not bad at all, glad I let it settle for 6 months or so before opening it.

500ml bottle from Sainsbury’s, drunk on 2 December 2011. BB 02.09.12. Gold colour. Lively condition. Modestly grassy hops on the nose. Touch of biscuity malt backbone. Clean on the palate. Fresh and pleasant. A good quaffer.

Bottled 19/05/12. A light golden beer with little head. Digestive biscuity malt notes. Very lemon and orangey hops. Nice citrus bitterness. A bit of spice too. Well balanced and tasty although the citrus seems a bit forced.

Bottled@Chriso. Golden colour, small white head. Aroma is fruits, caramel, some floral and mild honey/nectar like notes. Flavour is floral, fruity, malty and herbal. Quite basic, but still tasty.

500ml bottle as part of the Sainsburys beer challenge 2011. Clear gold colour with lasting near white thin head. Some nettle bitterness on aroma. Some perfumed stone fruit flavour in the mouth. Some bitterness on the finish from the Target hops. It’s a kind of peach/apricot golden ale. Certainly not unpleasant. And quite drinkable on a hot evening in a pub garden. Unfortuntely I was sat in my flat on a cold miserable windy September evening.

Bottle from Sainsburys. Gold pour with a white head. Caramel and citrus aroma. Light herb and citrus flavour. Sweet, bitter finish.

Bottle 500ml.

Clear medium yellow colour with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, white to off-white head. Aroma is moderate malty, toasted - caramel, light to moderate hoppy, dusty grass, hoppy licorice notes, leather notes. Flavour is moderate sweet and bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [20111202]

Bottle as part of the Sainsburys challenge. Golden coloured with a short-lived white head and plenty of fizz. Light aroma of cereal malts, sweetish apricot fruit and slightly peppery hops. Flavour had more fruit, solid malts and a lingering, bitter finish. Good.