Some names
without with
brief descriptions from the man who set out to try them all:
Good:
Badger England's Gold (4.6%) Orange to light-brown colour. Smells like ... alpine meadows and herb drops. You know herb drops? Those Swiss hard candy things that ... minds out of the gutter, people! Sugar, not girls. Yeah, them, the mixed herb sugar tablet thingies. So, yes, anyway, they're pretty much right about a floral aroma. I'm not sure it's zippy, though. How many zips have you sniffed? There's a strange texture to it in the mouth, the way coconut oil shampoo feels on your skin. It's not at all unpleasant, but it was unexpected. Grapes I can get, but not melon. There's a sort of peachy taste later, then an aftertaste like a ripe apricot before you bite into it. I detect no bitterness. Maybe it's just not as bitter as me. It seems the French for barley is "orge" and that makes me wonder what they used to get up to at harvest festivals. This is a very good, very mellow beer. It's not quite as light as Cumberland and Wainwright, but still more of a warm weather beer than the intense Riggwelter, Morocco or Poacher's Choice. It's less interesting than Fursty Ferret and Old Crafty Hen, but therefore better for easy drinking. I like it. <=== This one was reviewed late and I think he was losing it by this stage.
Badger Fursty Ferret (4.4%) Has a sparkly texture like lemonade. Just a touch of bitterness, moderately sweet, interesting enough not to come across as sweet or bitter ... hard to name the flavours ... Very easy to drink. It might be more of a summer beer, but it's not a hot-weather flavoured water job by any means.
Badger Poacher's Choice (5.7%) Mmm, smells like wine. Fruity red wine. Good start. More brown than ruby. Thin head fading away. Bubbling gently. *deep sniff* Hmmmm .... ooh, wow. Fruity alright, and right at the end ... er ... gooseberries? Small grapes? Lychees? Wow. They could sell this stuff as room fragrance. Sweet and fruity is right. It's in layers of different fruit, like someone put the individual chunks of fruit through a blender separately and then reassembled the fruit salad. It's a clear, alcoholic smoothie. I can't name any of the fruit I'm tasting but this is GOOD!
Black Sheep Riggwelter (5.7%) <=== Can't find the review for this one but it's dark, sweet, strong and slightly heavy going compared to many others. It's not solid like Guinness, but you don't drink this stuff in a hurry.
Daleside Morocco Ale (5.5%) Very dark red. Thin, very fine head. Very little aroma or my nose has gone numb. Faintly like roasting beef fat, I think. Taste: kind of sweet. Kind of fruity. Sort of ... you know the way fresh powder snow sparkles? Like that. Very smooth. The end of the taste is pretty much the same as the start, and there's no aftertaste yet after several swallows.
Very easy to drink. <=== Note from me: the brewery's not far, so we got it without it having to travel.
Jennings Cumberland Ale (4.7%) Good grief, it's orange ... like bubble bath! It's also foaming like bubble bath. It's loud. Okay, it's calmed down. It's now just bubbling like champagne. It smells like beer. Like a pub, but clean. The taste's light, slightly sweet, slightly tangy, pleasant enough, with a bit of a floury-apple finish on the first mouthful. After three, there's a lingering taste that's sort of like ... tangy sweets ... sort of like lychees. Perfectly drinkable, going at the top of the list of "other beers to get if there are going to be lots of people with varied tastes," I reckon. It still looks like bubble bath, though.
Old Crafty Hen (6.5%) Deep red colour, quarter of an inch of head on a small glass, clean, clear, floral smell ... kind of fizzy ... Pleasant taste, mild and, again, clean. No aftertaste at all. VERY drinkable.
Pauwel Kwak (8.4%) Pleasant golden-brown colour, looking like ... polished hardwood, but clear all the way through. No head worth a mention but bubbling merrily. The first smell's dark and malty, lovely and smooth. On a second inhalation, strongly fruity, but don't ask me to name the fruit. *sip* Wow that's strong. Lovely, then lovely, then a bit of a burn. Let me try that again. *sip* Hmmm ... mmmmmmmmmm ... strawberries? Strawberries and red wine. Intriguing combination. It works very well here. Definitely really like this one after the first few mouthfuls. I hate to rush a good beer, so ... *ctrl-click-away* ... half a glass down and still liking it a lot ... Nearly finished the bottle and there's a build-up of some after-taste, as you'd expect from drinking too many shots of strawberry schnapps in a night, really. Still, it's going on the list of gooooood beers.
Ridley's Old Bob (5.1%) Quarter-inch of creamy head that's hanging around quite well. Red-orange colour. Pleasant, clean, mild aroma, faintly reminiscent of cake. Slightly sweet, clean, clear, taste, not bitter at all, with just a hint of ... tangerines, perhaps ... at the end. No aftertaste! Erm, half and half orange and grapefruit juice, but with the texture of smooth orange juice. The head's down to a ring and a crescent now. Very good, this. I reckon this one's going in the top group with the best. It's very light but not short of flavour, and very drinkable right now, probably suited to a range of temperatures where the other light ones in the top group are "end of a hot summer walk" beers.
Thwaites Liberation (4.9%) It's quite dark but not Old Peculier dark, 5.2%, slightly sweet, slightly bitter, fairly rich and gentle in the aftertaste and I recommend it. <== He must have made a mistake with the strength there.
Thwaites Wainwright (4.1%) <=== I can't find the review of this one, but it's a refreshing one for after a long walk on a summer's day (summer by northern England's standards) so probably much like Jenning's Cumberland Ale mentioned above.
Will get for parties:
Badger Golden Champion (5.0%) Rather pale and yellowish, with a bitter smell. Moderately fizzy but didn't get a full covering of foam and already hardly has any. Taste is good! Not sure how to describe the smell but the taste is warm and fruity. Damnit, my nose isn't clear so I can't do this properly. More lychee than tangerine in the smell, I'd say. Tingles, then sour plums in a tiny sip. With a mouthful, it's quite a fruit salad. There is faint bitterness at the back but it doesn't linger.
Badger Golden Glory (4.5%) Fizzed then went down, like pop. Dark, brownish orange colour. Tastes tingly, mild, slightly sweet, kind of peachy ... then a bit bitter and kind of medicinal after a few seconds. Not bad, overall, but I don't like the aftertaste. It's good while it's in your mouth. The aftertaste fades fast enough, so it's not a ruiner. The big point for me on this beer is the smell. The label just doesn't describe it. It's gorgeous. It smells like it should be growing up the sides of the patio doors in the garden room. I want a bed of whatever flower it is next to a little bit of lawn with a swing-seat just the right size for me and an armful of girl.
Batemans Victory Ale (6.0%) Looks like Tizer. Sort of brownish clear bright deep orange. Smells like beer. Tastes ... weird. It tastes the way sand feels between your toes under water ... then sort of like ... banana pancakes with a hint of cool, crisp grapes.
It's nice. It's different or I really needed a beer or something. There's not much change in taste or aftertaste at first, but I'm starting to get an aftertaste after a few mouthfuls, and it's not a good one. Mild, but not good.
Black Sheep Golden Sheep Ale (4.7%) Colour: Slightly on the orange side of the previous golden, but not quite bubblebath. Smell: straight-up beer. Taste: well, better than I expected from the smell. I was expecting straight bitter. This is more like the Swiss Herb Drops from the chemist, full of interesting flavours, only slightly sweet and rather pleasant. The taste fades through wildflowers after swallowing, leaving only a very faint aftertaste of ... er ... sage? I'm withholding judgement until I get into the second glass of it. Still good.
Blue Moon (5.4%) Vastly superior {tp the Edelweiss}. Distinctly a wheat beer, by the taste, but it's lighter, smoother, quite tasty, not at all bitter and really rather pleasant. It's also more of an orange colour.
Greene King Suffolk Springer (6.0%) Hmm ... ye goddesses and shimmering little fishes, it's dark. Dark clear red, in fact, but you have to look right at the light bulb through it to see that. The aroma is ... erm ... some kind of sweet ... licquorice or aniseed, maybe ... The flavour was definitely fruitcake on the first mouthful. On the third, I can taste the caramel, but the fruitcake's still there and strong. There's a lingering flavour ... of ... erm ... knee-height in a mixed woodland. Yes, really. It's pleasant, imo.
Innis & Gunn Original (6.6%) It's quite gassy when first opened, and yellow when poured. In the glass, it's amber. It really looks like a preserved prehistoric mosquito wouldn't be out of place in it ... apart from all the bubbles. The first impression apart from the look was the smell of wood fire as I poured it, and that smell still dominates once it's in the glass. The first taste was also dominated by wood. Next time someone describes a wine or whisky as oaked I'll know what they mean. It's almost like I bit a chunk out of a tree. Having had a couple of mouthfuls, I can taste the toffee now. It's still woodsmoke, though. Woodsmoke-flavoured toffee at 6.6% alcohol by volume (11.55° proof) isn't what I'd normally ask for in a glass but this is not bad at all.
Joseph Holt Humdinger (4.1%) Clear dark orange colour, like amber. The head didn't quite cover the top, but some of it's still there now. My nose is a bit bunged up, but the smell seems pretty good, a bit like peaches. The taste is sweet and pleasant at first, like ... apple juice and ginger, maybe ... then beer. There's a bit of a stale aftertaste, but it's weak and fades fast.
Thwaites Chestnut Dancer (3.7%) It's another one that lost its head fast but continues to bubble like champagne. Colour's orange, only slightly dark, a bit like apple juice where it's sitting on the table. The smell's slightly acid, not much to write about. The taste's ... light, very slightly sweet ... erm ... very light ... perfectly pleasant ... pretty light ... Okay, I give up on naming the taste. This is a cool, refreshing, deep orange potion of relaxation, good for quaffing on a summer afternoon. I've got nothing to say against it, but no feeling that I have to get it again.
Thwaites Double Century (5.2%) Anyway ... amber's right for the colour. It's get an eighth of an inch of head and is bubbling fairly vigourously at the moment. The aroma's sharp and bitter, getting on for acrid, at first, but mellows after ten seconds or so. Taste: sweet, kind of reminiscent of a clean mountainside spring. Given a half mouthful and a bit of time there's an interesting tang to it. There's also a faint bitterness, but it is faint. If you stick to sipping, you won't notice it. This is a very nice beer, but I can't see it deposing any of the others in the top group, and there's a bit of a naff beery aftertaste developing. Still a fair patch of head left two-thirds of the way down the first glass, but it's not gassy. <=== Oh, yes it is. It just doesn't let go of the gas until after you swallow it. 'Scuse me.
Thwaites Lancaster Bomber (4.4%) First impression: it smells of beer. Quite a coarse, strong head on it. Fairly dark, but not into Riggwelter country by a fair margin yet. Sort of a peaty brown colour. Tastes like a fairly ordinary beer, like a bitter with no bitterness if that makes sense, then has a rather nice fruity aftertaste, sort of a strawberry-melon flavour. Pretty good, pretty good. Doesn't smell anything like as good as Golden Glory but beats it on taste. The back label says it has a full malt flavour, a dry bitter finish and prominent hop aroma.
Wyre Piddle Piddle in the Hole (4.0%) Light yellow-orange colour and very pleasant aroma (of beer, not honeysuckle and gorse, but still pleasant). Not much head, not very bubbly, far from flat. Fruity. Definitely fruity-tasting. Nectarine, maybe. I don't know, maybe passion fruit and a hint of pomegranate. The taste doesn't change and the aftertaste's very mild and sort of ... steak-like. I may be thinking of steak in ale sauce here, not just steak, but that's what it's like.
Will get for one beer-tasting party because they're unique and fairly good:
Badger Blandford Fly (5.2%) Don't think much of the smell right off the bottle. It's quite like the river Stour, actually. Pouring, it's yellow, getting on for slightly orange as the glass fills. There's no head at all but it's medium-bubbly. The smell's much improved already. It smells like hot country beer, which goes pretty well with the 0/5 for "hoppy" on the label. *sip* "Sharp" is the first thing that springs to mind. *sip* It says it has ginger in it for extra bite (it's ginger beer?) but I'm not tasting that much. It's sharp, sharp, hot country beer, slightly sweet then sweet, with a slow medicinal aftertaste. *bigger sip* Ah, there's the ginger. *finger-width* It's a bit like eating Asian food and drinking Asian beer, without the chewing. After half a glass, the ginger afterburn is developing, and mostly overpowering the medicinal taint that lingered after the first sip.
Cains Fine Raisin Beer (5.0%) There's a pleasant fruity smell as soon as the bottle's opened. It pours yellow, and looks pale brown and orange in the glass, between apple juice and bubble bath. It was quite frothy, clearing fairly fast, and quite bubbly, but it's calmed down a lot. The smell's grapes and flowers, which is really nice. Wow. Not an easy taste to describe. First impression: tangy and tingly, quite intense, like small grapes and really good satsumas. Second taste: sweet. Third taste: furry in a good way, with something behind the fruit salad. Fourth taste: quarter-scale rice pudding? Fifth: lighter fluid, but don't worry. It's pretty mild. Immediate aftertaste: like having breathed paint fumes. Lingering aftertaste: like that of orange juice. All in all, it's an interesting beer to drink and it smells lovely. It's going on the "once for a party" list.
Crabbie's Original Alcoholic Ginger Beer (4.0%) Smells of ginger, spices and fruit. Very pale yellow with a respectable layer of froth and vigorous bubbling going on. *sip* Fairly light and gentle, a lot like Canada Dry but frothier ... then there's a rather more fiery aftertaste. *swig* Actually, it's too light to be properly enjoyed by swigging, and the burn gets hotter if you do that, so it's a good alternative to beer and cider for a low-percentage alcoholic drink to sip, but I wouldn't recommend it as a drink to consume by the mouthful or before attempting to sing. Of course, I like DG's Old Jamaica ginger beer, so I reckon I'll be getting more of this stuff. Can still taste the fruit in there.
Robinsons Old Tom (8.5%) It's dark alright, but not the dark brown of the other dark ones I know. This is a lovely deep red. There's very little head, and it's slowly fading. The beer isn't bubbling at all. The aroma could have been dark fruit, maybe black cherries, but I'm a bit bunged up right now. It was strong enough over the neck of the bottle. The first impression of the flavour is that it's strong, intense and sweet. There's chocolate, then toffee, then ... something else, malt and hops, I guess. The immediate aftertaste is bonfire toffee, then woodsmoke. The lingering taste is slightly sour and slightly burnt, like olives and red onion on a pizza that was left in the oven 30 seconds too long.
Drinkable:
Badger First Gold (4.0%) Colour: orange-red. Gas: bubbly at first, calming down. There was a smooth head which has slowly faded to two little arcs. It's bubbling very gently now. Smell: slightly sharp, basically beer. Fairly clean. Taste: cool, mild, slightly bitter, simple, rather ordinary beer. For an ordinary beer, it's alright, but it's just an ordinary beer. Drinkable.
Badger Tanglefoot (5.0%) Not very gassy, just not flat. Paler, more yellow colour than the last one so I'll back them on that "golden" claim. The aroma's faintly sour, and more reminiscent of fresh bread than much else. First taste: smooth, clean, quite a tangy sort of melon in there somewhere. It'd make a nice fruit salad. Then: mild, fairly sweet, rather plain. There's a little bit of a pithy aftertaste at the sides of the tongue, but not for long.
Batemans Dark Lord (5.0%) Colour: Coca-cola. Head: medium, thin, fast-fading. Bubbling: yes, but not as much as some. Looks a lot like Coke. Aroma: Black treacle, quite strong. Taste: black treacle as well, getting stronger after the swallow.
Bernard Dark (5.1%) *PFAT* Okay, so fairly gassy then. *wipes forehead* Very dark indeed. Lots of head, slowly settling down. Dark like Dr Pepper. Pretty pleasant smell, like another dark one I've had but I can't remember which. I get the impression it may taste a bit like bonfire toffee ... *sip* ... and am wrong. It tastes like ... erm ... er ... Maybe rye bread? Okay, it's calmed down a lot now, there's barely a bubble to be seen, it's black enough to be some sort of scary potion and I still can't name the flavours in it, but it's pretty good. The bottle's resealable, which is nice. How to describe the taste? Smooth, certainly. Fairly sweet, but not really a sweet taste. Slightly bitter, but only very slightly. Strong, for sure. There's a bit of a sticky aftertaste in the roof of my mouth. If anything, it's like someone did a really good job of making a medicinal vegetable juice drink taste good. It's got that ... roast parsnip taste to it, and a smell of ... ah ... fried celery or something. I don't know. Grilled leeks. Something. Pretty good. Definitely increases the range of flavours available if you include it in a party cellar. I think that's where it's going on the list. On the way down the bottle, it got a bit sour. It's still drinkable, but it's not that good after all.
Black Sheep Yorkshire Square (5.0%) Golden-brown colour, not much head. Sweeter than your average bitter, but it's acidic and bitter compared to Liberation. Aroma's slightly chemical. Aftertaste is faint dry bitterness at the back of the tongue.
Chimay Pères Trappistes Chimay Red (7.0%) The head climbed out of the neck when I opened it. It's a frothy one! Colour is very pale brown, and either the water here's gone awfully hard or it's kind of cloudy. The smell would make a good body spray scent. It's simple, clean and pleasing. I think it's ... strawberries. Mmm. The taste: first impression is that there's a lot of taste. It's sweet then beautifully balanced sweet and bitter, then just a hint of beer and then the bitter orange taste of Cointreau. Yeah, I've found a beer that tastes like foamy Cointreau. Got a bit heavy towards the bottom. <=== I've known a few women to do that, too.
Daleside Monkey Wrench (5.3%) Deep red-brown colour. Not much head. No visible bubbling. The smell's slightly sour but pleasant, a little like beer and a little like grapes and Granny Smith apples. Taste's light at first, then shades to beer, then smoky toffee and then bitter herbs, followed by a really rather nice aftertaste at the front of the mouth.
Erdinger Dunkel (5.6%) This is a dark lager. I don't normally like lager but the dark ones can be good. Dark is right. It's like Coke. *holds glass up to the light* No, actually, it's darker than Coke. There's a lovely smell of chocolate, caramel, cinnamon, fresh bread and toast, mostly toast. *gives it a few breaths* *inhales* Mmmmm, fresh bread. *sip* Erm ... odd. Interestingly odd. Err ... Slightly tart at the tip of the tongue, then ... sauerkraut? It can't taste of sauerkraut. That's just not right. *sip* *sip* Well, it's a drinkable beer, but it's ... well, I think it's beer, but it's not really my kind of beer.
Hambleton Ales Taylor's Tipple (4.5%) Tiny psht as the lid comes off. Single ring of small bubbles in neck. Not very gassy, then. Light brown colour, clear, bubbling pleasantly and quite a bit. No foam at all. Sweetish aroma with fruit and ... something ... notes. Trying another sniff. Fresh-shaved pine boards? Bubbling already calmed down a lot. First taste: interestingly textured, pleasant, fairly simple. Holding it in my mouth, it went bitter. There's a bit of a tang and a herby taste which I guess is "malty depth". It's sort of reminiscent of an unpolluted peat bog, which isn't a bad thing as such but isn't a place I'd choose to pitch a tent. Halfway down the first glass, it's not getting any more bitter and the other flavours are becoming more noticeable. Orange zest comes to mind. The label says there's citrus in the aroma but I've found it in the taste.
J.W.Lees Brewer's Dark (3.5%) Okay ... smooth head that hung around for a couple of minutes ... very dark colour (red when held to the light) ... fairly mild smell ... tastes ... pretty damn ordinary, only not pretty. Don't like this one much. It's sort of the way people who don't like vegetables would expect vegetable juice to taste. It's not brussels sprouts, but it's a vegetation sort of taste. Maybe it's what a mouthful of untamed Laotian jungle would taste like ... including the mud.
Jennings Sneck Lifter (5.1%) Rich brown colour, smooth head, sweet scent of caramel and applewood smoke. Taste: sweet and easy at first, then ... erm ... kind of prickly, then something along the centre of the back of my tongue. Today is not my day for describing flavours, clearly. Can't name it, but whatever it is, this stuff tastes worse by the second while it's in your mouth. Swig it or leave it, I think. Going on the "drinkable" list, but not one I'll buy again.
Morland Old Speckled Hen (5.2%) First note: strong smell. The moment the bottle was opened it hit me, and it wasn't all that nice. Colour: deep orange, hint of brown. Gas: mostly covered in bubbles when freshly poured, but settled down to a scattering on the sides of the glass and a gentle upwards sprinkling of tiny bubbles. Smell, now that the first psht is out of the way: good, warm, gentle, rich and like a wild growth of some sort of flowering plant. First taste: tingly. Second taste: not so good, I'm afraid. It's a bit coarser than the aroma promised, and a bit bitter. Two more sips ... Mouthful ... There's an interesting taste in there at the back of the tongue, sort of licquorice-like, I think, and the bitterness isn't so noticeable. Swig ... Getting better as I get down the glass. It's a funny one, this. Still tingly, pretty simple and light sort of taste (for a beer) then that taste in a cloud over the back of my tongue and just a bit of bitterness that builds as it lingers. I think this is a swiggable but not very sippable beer.
Natural Brewing Co. Irresistible Premium Ale (4.3%) Slightly the orange side of golden. Smooth head already fading out. Very fine bubbles, much smaller than the other beers have had. Floral sort of smell. Recognisably beer, but really you'd do better to ask a gardener rather than a chef to identify the notes within it. Big improvement, anyway. Hmm ... it actually tastes like springwater and beer. The first flavour I got was of water fresh out of the seam between slate and granite layers, then I tasted beer. Nothing bad about it yet. The aftertaste's just "beer". This one's ... no big deal
Thwaites Very Nutty Black (3.9%) Dark it is, indeed! There's just a little slick of fine foam rather than a head. Smell: nutty may describe it, then smoky. Aftersmell: Christmas pudding. First taste: fairly simple, neither sweet nor bitter, quite smooth and pleasant enough. First mouthful aftertaste: at the back of the throat, like that of too much cheap beer. One glass taste: somewhat like muesli. One glass aftertaste: none. After one glass, I find this to be a perfectly drinkable but rather unexciting beer.
York Brewery York Minster Ale (4.2%) Colour between bubblebath and apple juice, with a sweet, sharp and quite strong smell. Smooth head already thinning out. Smells of ... clementines. Tastes ... alright at first, then it's definitely bitter. The aftertaste's really good, though. *sip* Hrm. Pretty mild zest flavour in the first taste. Bitterness in the second and all the way to the end, then a pleasant tingle with a hint of oranges. Oranges again. Now I want to try an orange and see whether it tastes like beer. This one's drinkable alright.
Not good:
Joseph Holt Maplemoon (4.8%) It's another orange bubble bath one, fizzing like a glass of Coke. Don't much like the smell of it so far. It seems a bit corrosive or dirty, like the sort of smell you'd get in an alley where you're careful not to touch the walls. Relative to other beers, that is. It's not actually a sewer smell, just not that inviting. Interesting note on the first taste, then it turned into just beer, with a slight bitterness that doesn't appeal. Actually that's more than a slight bitterness.
Kopparbergs Frank's Alcoholic Root Beer (4.0%) Strong Licquorice smell on opening it. Red-purple colour while pouring. Black sitting in the glass, with a really strong aniseed smell. Nearly black held up to the light too. Glass to lips and it smells like both. Taste: medicinal. Nope, not good.
Shepherd Neame Spitfire (4.5%) Slightly orange brown colour, very little head but it's not flat. Clear, pretty mild. Ordinary sort of beer flavour, slightly sweet in the first mouthful, a touch bitter in the second, and it's left an aftertaste on the right side of my tongue that I don't much like. The aftertaste has the flavour of pecan nuts and orange pith and the texture of an unripe banana, but it's pretty weak so food or more beer gets rid of it very easily. Third mouthful more bitter than the first for sure. Don't think I'd bother getting it again but I won't look at you funny if you say you like it.
Wolf Battle of Britain (3.9%) More of a slightly reddish brown than copper, imo. Thin layer of head quickly broke down to an outer ring of bubbles and a patch covering about a third of the glass. Smells like pub beer, which is not a good sign. Hint of smokiness there. It ought to smell like sweat, shit, petrol fumes, cordite and burning engine oil and taste of blood, soot and tears, I suppose. *sip* Umm ... yeah, that's pretty generic pub beer, alright. The very first taste was pleasant enough, but it was all quickly overwhelmed by bitterness. Not good. It's from bloody Norfolk. What do you expect? No wonder it's flat!
Not good at all:
Duchy Originals Organic Select Ale (6.2%) Quite vivid orange-red colour like ... erm ... apple juice? Crisp, clean smell, which is promising. Vaguely floral. Head's gone, but still bubbling a bit. Oof. That's disappointing. Not so good after all. Bitter, tart, pithy, sour and stale are the adjectives that spring to mind for the taste. Sorry, Your Highness, but bollocks to this stuff.
St Peter's Organic Ale (4.5%) Sharp, sweet smell. Deep, slightly orange, golden colour, smooth head. *sip* Ooh. Going on the "not good" list, based on that sip. Very bitter and otherwise rather ordinary. Waiting for the aftertaste and ... you know how mint toothpaste leaves a cold aftertaste? Imagine the bitter version of that. Yeah, this one's really rather medicinal. Hrm. Second-worst so far, definitely. It's not getting any better on the way down the glass. It might be good for something, like cooking goose in it. I think it would do that. Not something I'd accept free on a night out, though.
York Brewery Centurion's Ghost Ale (5.4%) Well, it's dark alright! Holding it up to the window, I can't see any light through it at all. Smooth head, still hanging around a bit in the middle of the glass. Quite bubbly, like Coke. es, I can see the bubbles going up the edge of the glass. Actually, I can see them on the bottom, too, very faintly. It's a very dark red, it seems. Smell's mostly what I'd call acidic, but it's got fruity tones at the end of a long sniff. Hmm. Rather tart. It's ... kinda fruity, a little, like plums or some such, but also beery, then bitter and beery, then hinting at toffee ... then there's an aftertaste of bitter beer that fades to ... er ... texture of milk chocolate, flavour of mixed green and brown bananas. I'll get down this glass and see how I feel about it then. So far, it's not good. Getting on for "not good at all". Y'know what? Doo doo-doo doo-doo I ain't afraid of no Ghost. If it's kind of lame, and it don't taste good, where's it gonna go? Down the sink!
Down the sink, it was that bad:
Hofbräu KaltenHausen Edelweiss (5.5%) First impression: big head on it, definitely a lager. Somewhat bitter taste, stronger than the flavourless swill served by the pint. The colour's pale and sort of murky. The aftertaste was a bit fruitier in a bitter sort of way, and then there was a faint hint of cinnamonlike warmth after the first sip went down. Second impression: dishwater.
