Glastonbury Ales, Golden Chalice, 4.8%abv. (Golden Ale)

Purchased in Bath during my recent visit to the lovely city; coming in a 500ml brown glass bottle, BB 30/01/2014, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass. Note: supposedly this ale shall be very popular amongst the hyper audience at the annual Glastonbury Festivals...?!

3.5/5 Appearance: pours a semi-translucent, bright reddish amber colour, very mild carbonation sits underneath a thin white beer head.
3/5 Smell: cotton candy-ish sugary notes of pale malts come with a wee touch of melted caramel & honey, underlined by a fine touch of English citric hops & restrained acidic-yeastiness. Not very complex and yet still pleasant for this beer style.
3.5/5 Taste: the palate comes mildly spritzy, contrasting a swallow of soothing, liquidy biscuity pale malts with notes of nectar or faintly sour-sweet honey in each sip, which is in turn balanced by decent hop fruitiness, lightly “tingling” spiciness, and belated mineral-ish or semi-phenolic undertones, where a medium level of bitterness lingers alright in the finish.

3.5/5 Mouthfeel & 3/5 Overall: mildly spritzy on the palate, the flavour is as refreshingly tasty as it is balanced, showing a decent input of hops on top of an essentially malt-rich flavour profile. All in all, this is an easy-drinking, balanced Golden Ale demanding very little effort for full appreciation from any drinker.

--Yau (19/05/2013)