I was sent a bottle of this to try some time ago, put it in the cold store to settle after it's trauma in the post and promptly forgot about it 
Sorry John,
After some prompting I did indeed sample the beer . . . . John You had better brace your self
It was a damned nice brew . . . . BB had originally labelled it as a bitter which I'm not sure that I would have done . . . Not that it was under hopped in fact there was a really nice pleasing bitterness that had a very long finish . . . the colour and 'taste' however is definitely brown ale territory, and without knowing that is where I would have placed it.
The beer cleared well after transport, but the yeast deposit was quite heavy indicating that it could probably have been left longer before bottling, while in the cold there was some evidence of chill haze but not to any significant degree, this dissipated once I had allowed it to warm up to room temperature. Upon opening it delivered a good Phssst, and the smoking gun effect accompanied buy a pleasant fruity aroma . . . Despite some rising bead in the bottle the sediment did not shift which was good. On pouring the beer exhibited good carbonation, producing a nice ,slightly coarse, creamy white head . . . which did dissipate fairly quickly. The beer was clear but not bright and a very deep red/brown colour
The aroma as mentioned was fruity, not sure I can identify the hop, I'm thinking fuggles/challenger but am likely to be wrong. Initial taste revealed the carbonation to be quite high, but a full bodied and fruity/sweetish beer then the bitterness kicked in which balanced the sweetness really well, and had a very long finish . . . I was still tasting it 15 minutes after finishing the pint. The only 'fault' I could find was a slight dry astringency that I attributed to over extraction of Tannins from the mash . . . although it could have been from one of the malts used. . . . it was not offensive or extreme, and indeed well within the style for a brown ale
I found it to be a good beer but because of the sweetness and high body would not be one that I would have more than one a night. . . . but that is my personal preference, I prefer less sweet beers. I'd say the 25 years you have spent brewing have not been wasted, this is a fine beer
Having seen the recipe, the body and sweetness is provided by a considerable amount of caramel/crystal malt, with chocolate for colour, and the hops were challenger and Goldings.
Sorry John,After some prompting I did indeed sample the beer . . . . John You had better brace your self
It was a damned nice brew . . . . BB had originally labelled it as a bitter which I'm not sure that I would have done . . . Not that it was under hopped in fact there was a really nice pleasing bitterness that had a very long finish . . . the colour and 'taste' however is definitely brown ale territory, and without knowing that is where I would have placed it.
The beer cleared well after transport, but the yeast deposit was quite heavy indicating that it could probably have been left longer before bottling, while in the cold there was some evidence of chill haze but not to any significant degree, this dissipated once I had allowed it to warm up to room temperature. Upon opening it delivered a good Phssst, and the smoking gun effect accompanied buy a pleasant fruity aroma . . . Despite some rising bead in the bottle the sediment did not shift which was good. On pouring the beer exhibited good carbonation, producing a nice ,slightly coarse, creamy white head . . . which did dissipate fairly quickly. The beer was clear but not bright and a very deep red/brown colour
The aroma as mentioned was fruity, not sure I can identify the hop, I'm thinking fuggles/challenger but am likely to be wrong. Initial taste revealed the carbonation to be quite high, but a full bodied and fruity/sweetish beer then the bitterness kicked in which balanced the sweetness really well, and had a very long finish . . . I was still tasting it 15 minutes after finishing the pint. The only 'fault' I could find was a slight dry astringency that I attributed to over extraction of Tannins from the mash . . . although it could have been from one of the malts used. . . . it was not offensive or extreme, and indeed well within the style for a brown ale
I found it to be a good beer but because of the sweetness and high body would not be one that I would have more than one a night. . . . but that is my personal preference, I prefer less sweet beers. I'd say the 25 years you have spent brewing have not been wasted, this is a fine beer
Having seen the recipe, the body and sweetness is provided by a considerable amount of caramel/crystal malt, with chocolate for colour, and the hops were challenger and Goldings.
