Good beer? Happy bear!
Brewery: Three Tuns
Style: Dark Ale
Country: England
Bottle 500 ml ABV 6.5 % from Three Tuns, Bishop’s Castle in Shropshire. Aromas are rich of coffee, chocolate, liquorice notes and caramel. Pours a deep black body with a thick and large beige head. Taste is fairly rich with coffee and chocolate, followed by some fiery ginger notes, dark fruitiness and sweet caramel. Smooth and creamy palate. Great ale!
Brewery: Samuel Smith’s
Style: Imperial Stout
Country: England
Bottle 355 ml from Beerwulf. Aromas of roasted malts, coffee, chocolate and some caramel. Pours a deep black body with a big beige head. Thick and creamy palate followed by a taste of dark roasted malts, black coffee, some chocolate and caramel tones, alcohol and subtle liquorice. Leaving a well balanced and very enjoyable bitterness from the roasted malts and coffee notes. Very good proper stout which takes you back in time to smoky and oily factories (although I doubt their stouts were this good). This fine piece of black oil gets the same scores as Fullers Vintage Ale 2017, despite it being a different style.
Brewery: Fuller’s
Style: English Strong Ale
Country: England
Bottle 500 ml (6 sterling pounds) from Waitrose with number 096558. Aromas of malts, caramel, tropical fruit, alcohol, banana. Just perfect looks with a clear body ranging from amber to maroon to chestnut and a beige-white fluffy head that lasts. Taste is rich and bitter with malts, caramel, alcohol, dried dark berries/fruit and subtle notes of banana and vanilla. Somehow creamy and quite dry palate, like a proper English ale should be. Very pleasant. Luckily I have another bottle stored for a special occasion.
Brewery: Brewgooder Ltd (brewed by Brewdog)
Style: Pilsner
Country: Scotland
Can 330 ml from Flavourly canvent calendar. Pours a clear, pale golden body with a medium-sized fluffy white head. Looks like a good lager should. Aromas are not very prominent, but crisp malts and citrus. Taste is refreshing with crisp malts and a good citrus finish. I’d call this a pilsner rather than a lager. Leaves a dry, citrusy aftertaste.
Brewery: Flavourly (brewed by BAD Brewing & Distilling)
Style: Porter
Country: Scotland
Can 330 ml from Flavourly’s own canvent calendar. Pours a deep black body with small beige-brown head. Very coffee-like appearance. Aromas of roasted malts, coffee and notes of caramel and subtle chocolate. Taste is quite sweet with malts and burnt notes of coffee. There are subtle notes of chocolate and caramel but the marshmallow flavour is not really there. Overall it’s a quite good porter but it’d do better without the sweetness.
