Greene King, Strong Suffolk Vintage Ale, 6%abv. (Old Ale)

This ale, is allegedly a blend of Green King’s old oak-aged stale ale Old 5X (12%abv.) and a lighter beer, called the Best Pale Ale (5%abv.). A few years back when I first tried this beer, it was bottle-conditioned, but this version now is filtered, and possibly pasteurised as well. BB FEB 2007, served cool in a large Burgundy bulb wine glass.

4/5 Appearance: deep dark ruby hue coming with a beige frothy beer head slowly dissipating and leaving uneven sheets of lacing along the way; very gentle and constant carbonation.

4.5/5 Smell: enticing sour-sweet aroma of ripe plums and dried berry-fruits, on top of a mildly lactic-sour aroma from old oak barrels (like a more creamy version of Rodenbach's oaky-sourness), creamy/buttery diacetyl notes and toffee-ish dark malts, coconut milk, fruit cake, perfumy and a little winey touch... Overall, the nose is deeply fruity and complex, while the freshness and liveliness are also retained.

4/5 Taste: surprisingly light in contrast to the rich aroma, the foretaste is almost… tea-ish, where a bitter-sweet taste of dark malts is supported by a flow of dried dark fruits with its sour-sweet edge, slightly bitter, burnt maltiness, then turning fast to a dry-ish bitter palate full of dry herbs, bitter licorice, and slightly tannic tea-leaves; surprisingly clean finish in the end with a subtle, lingering echo of bitterness (from hops?) and old sherry like palate.

4.5/5 Mouthfeel: the texture sustains well, with refreshingly mild fizz sitting underneath a rather clean and light body – this is an ultra-light old ale, and there's a lovely contrast b/w the rich aroma and feather-light palate, while complexity reveals in the most subtle manner.

4/5 Overall: I remember my last bottle (bottle-conditioned, as I remember it) being much richer on the palate, but that was four years ago. I'm not sure if the recipe has been changed, but the beer as it is now is quite drinkable and thirst-quenching even. But why has it been changed to the pasteurised+filtered(?) version? Or is my memory a bit too hazy to get this fact right?

--Yau (tasted 18/04/06; transcribed 23/02/2013)