反正Greene King怎樣就是作不出復古或是新式的IPA，但又一直推一堆和這詞有關的酒：GK IPA、GK IPA Export、GK IPA Gold、GK IPA Reserve，真是夠了… 這一款像極了Abbot Ale，但是又沒那個質感，四不像。

Greene King, IPA Reserve, 5.4%abv. (Premium Bitter)

Coming in a 500ml slim clear bottle, BB FEB 2014, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass.

3.5/5 Appearance: pours a bright dark copper, coming with sporadic carbonation and a fast retreating layer of thin off-white foam.

3/5 Smell: upon opening the bottle, upfront comes a lightly skunky note as of the light struck effect, but not too much; sweet grassy notes, sweetened light flavoured toasted tea, raisins, caramelised sugar coated apples, sweet citrus and more caramel feature on the nose; notes of melted rock sugar and Styrian Golding’s spicy herbal fragrance form a solid backbone.

3/5 Taste: quite spritzy on the palate, the foretaste is full of bitter-sweet cold barley tea, again, then ensued by sour-sweet citric fruity and sweet herbal flavour of hops, more crystal malts, a touch of boiled yum-like sweetness and prune-ish sourness into the aftertaste, where a fine touch of gristy crystal/caramel malts also lingers in the form of aroma. The sour-sweet maltiness plus the subtly spicy hop profile is more or less the same as Abbot Ale, in my opinion. The hop bitterness is not actually enough to render this beer an IPA, nor is the hop flavour throughout.

3.5/5 Mouthfeel & 3/5 Overall: spritzy at first but going smoother as the drink goes, the body remains medium and the palate is always a bit thin (not to the point of being watery, but not far off) as far as 5.4%abv. is concerned. No offence, but this IPA Reserve does not stand up to the requirement for this style, just like many Greene King products where fine malts and yeastiness work better as a better pair in the whole team of ingredients. Average drinkability on this bottle, perhaps it’s better on cask, should it be made available.

--Yau (31/03/2013)