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| 2006/08/30 09:05:32瀏覽970｜回應0｜推薦0 | |
No.1 Brakspear Bitter (如上圖) Brewery: Brakspear (Refresh UK, Witney, Oxfordshire) Style: Standard Bitter Alc.: 3.4%abv. Serving Condition: cask-conditiond, served by a handpump w/o a sparkler. Review Date: 04/04/2006 Misc.: Tasted by a pint at the Bow Bell, Bow Church, East End London. 4/5 Appearance: bright reddish amber hue, very clear, with a nice off-white frothy beer head with good retention and a fine carbonated body; the tight lacing sustains just fine.
3/5 Nose: earthy and floral scent of hops plus a grapefruit zest note, like Fuggles-dominated hop content. Simple and nice. 3.5/5 Flavour: lightly-sour sweet maltiness underlined by a profound spicy and herbal hops, followed by a dryish zesty kick at the back; very smooth finish with a moderate bitterness which lingers surprisingly well~~ 4/5 Mouthfeel+3.5/5 Overall: the soft mouthfeel is consistently backed by subtle and fine carbonation--very well cask-conditioned; light-bodied, simple-flavoured, this is a good honest bitter to savour--could use bolder flavour to really stand out, though. (Total score: 3.55/5) No.2 Brakspear Special Brewery: Brakspear (Refresh UK, Witney, Oxfordshire) Style: English Pale Ale or Best Bitter Alc.: 4.3%abv. Serving Condition: cask-conditiond, served by a handpump w/o a sparkler. Review Date: 02/01/2006 Misc.: Tasted by half-pint at the Anglesea Arms, a pub deeply in the heart of South Kensington area, London. 3.5/5 Appearance: served in a straight half pint glass, the colour comes dark tawny and slightly hazy, while no beer head is detected~~ 3/5 Nose: lightly berry-fruit aroma on top of a skunky and earthy hoppyness, with the sulphury note a touch too much for me... But it smells fresh anyway. 4/5 Flavour: an intense flavour consisting of bitter-sweet dark fruits, caramely (not sweet) malts, plus tea-leaf+tea-sprig like bitterness prevails upfront; after the mid-flavour a residual taste of caramel sustains, along with a touch of saltiness, while at the back of the palate a flow of earthy and woody hop flavour lingers brilliantly, leaving a slightly tannic touch deep down there. 3.5/5 Mouthfeel: lively mouthfeel throughout this drink, thanks to the tiny-fizzy body, while the texture also remains very soft maybe due to Brakspear's double-drop fermenting system. Yet the body falls a bit thin in the aftertaste as the flavour slowly dissipates. 3.5/5 Overall: a solid and quaffable brew, albeit slightly one-dimensional. (Total score: 3.6/5) No.3 Brakspear Organic Beer Brewery: Brakspear (Refresh UK, Witney, Oxfordshire) Style: Best Bitter to Premium Bitter Alc.: 4.6%abv. Serving Condition: bottle-conditiond, served cool in a goblet. Best Before End: 16/04/2006 Review Date: 13/08/2005 Misc.: An organic beer coming in a 500ml brown bottle. 3.5/5 Appearance: it pours a clear, light amber hue, with a foamy, white beer head gradually fading out and settling to a very thin layer of big & tiny bubbles, looking a bit like a Scottish potato cake… very gentle fizz. 4.5/5 Nose: a smooth yet aromatic nose mixed of pale malts, floral hops (like Goldings), mild grapefruit-zest, pineapple juice, honey comb, wild plant, and slightly peppery and yeasty note and some nutty aroma… a settled yet quietly complex aroma as a whole. 4/5 Flavour: upfront a creamy texture of biscuity malts, slightly toffeeish, against the backdrop of mild citrus-zesty and oily hop flavour; the slightly crisp, dryish zesty flavour gradually develops, underlined by an increasingly fungus-like, sweet-wood and earthy bitterness, as a tinge of very mild nuttiness develops; finished with a lingering yet also dryish bitterness. 3.5/5 Mouthfeel: the mouthfeel turns from initially refreshing, through to soft, ending dryish, but the more I sip this beer the more I feel that it lacks the sort of depth and a richer texture to uphold the palate. 3.5/5 Overall: overall it's a medium-bodied ale with quite nice flavour, but not so interesting and flavoursome that I'd go for the second bottle. (Total score: 3.9/5) No.4 Brakspear Triple (1) (如下圖) Brewery: Brakspear (Refresh UK, Witney, Oxfordshire) Style: English Strong Ale Alc.: 7.2%abv. Serving Condition: bottle-conditiond, served cool in a goblet. Best Before End: 02/04/2006 Review Date: 16/08/2005 Misc.: The name "Triple" actually means triple fermentation plus triple amount of hops used, rather than in line with the Belgian term "Tripel" of using triple amounts of malts in the brewing process. The beer firstly appears on the shelf at my local Sainsbury's two weeks ago, along with Brakspear's Organic Beer and Duchy's Original... wonder if the Refresh UK has signed a brand new contract with the Sainsbury's to promote their whole range of Wychwood and Brakspear beers in full force~~ Still, I welcomed this small expansion of beer range at the Sainsbury's, as several decent foreign brews are on offer now as well~~ 4/5 Appearance: it pours a chestnut brown colour, with a medium-thick, off-white beer head gradually settling to a 0.5cm layer of fine bubbles. 4/5 Nose: lightly fruit-candyish note, semi-sweetish malts plus the sharp edge of marmalade and a lively note of banana-skins, toffee, and mixed tropical fruits, while a lightly floral perfume aroma sustains in the background. Not too bad, although a bit "floating" in the air (if you know what I mean...). 3.5/5 Flavour: candyish malts and semi-bitter hop flavour arrive on the palate along with a slightly tangy mouthfeel, in which one could explore a faint trace of lychee skin, a touch of flowery, pollen-like bitterness and some marks of diacetyl. The mouthfeel is quite soft but aftering chewing the beer, the texture becomes "flat", not meaning a lack of fizz but running deep down on the palate, leaving a sort of tannic and dryish mouthfeel. 3/5 Mouthfeel+ 3/5 Overall: the overall mouthfeel is a bit flat on top of the short tangy touch, not rounded enough as I'd expect of this triple-fermented beer. Yet it's easy-drinking--maybe not a compliment as a bottle-conditioned beer should have a vertical structure and colourful flavour, which this beer apparently lacks. Anyway, one should try it at least once to have an idea about how Refresh UK has tried to revive some extinguished beers and how it might improve them. (Total score: 3.6/5) No.4 Brakspear Triple (2) Brewery: Brakspear (Refresh UK, Witney, Oxfordshire) Style: English Strong Ale Alc.: 7.2%abv. Serving Condition: bottle-conditiond, served cool in a goblet. Best Before End: 02/04/2006 Review Date: 28/12/2005 Misc.: This bottle was purchased along with the previous one. Now is time to see if it benefits a little from further ageing in the bottle. 4/5 Appearance: copperish hue, creamy off-white froth slowly dissipating... 4/5 Nose: not much different from the previous note, except that this time a stronger apple-ish edge is added to the fruity profile, while maltiness is more pronounced, with caramel malts mixed well with strong-scented, rum-soaked black cherries like fruity flavour with additional touch of spice at the back. 3.5/5 Flavour: smooth flow of juicy malts mixed with toffee and lightly caramelised sugar, underlined by slightly sour-sweet flavour of dark fruits like plums-on-skins plus a residual taste of lychee and preserved berry-fruits, leaving a mildly spicy and tangy fruity edge in the end. On balance the fruitiness imparted by hops is much milder than the previous bottle, and so is the bitterness. 3/5 Mouthfeel+ 3/5 Overall: even smoother than the last bottle, yet the texture turns a bit thin at the tail of each sip, while the body is not yet three-dimensional. It seems ageing hasn't done a great deal to improve its overall complexity and especially the hop profile~~ (Total score: 3.6/5) "The universal human need for liberation from the restrictions of mundane existence is satisfied by experiencing altered states of consciousness." i.e. Beers!! "If it's not bright, it's not right; if it's not clear, it's not beer!" *堯的個人酒評網頁: http://beeradvocate.com/user/profile/wl0307/
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