Old Tom - Robinsons

Old Tom is a strong ale which comes with the 'Worlds Best Ale '09' award proudly emblazoned across the neck of the bottle, so this ought to deliver on all fronts

This is a Strong English ale, with an 8.5% ABV

The appearance is a dark treacle look with a deep cherry hue; gentle carbonation produces a delicate off-white head which slowly depletes to nothing, but offers some decent lacing

The nose is deeply sweet with definite port, roasted malt notes, dark fruit, a hint of citrus and hop at the back also.  Hops are very faint however.  The ABV is certainly there in all its glory, but is neither overpowering or unpleasant

Plenty of malt flavour, offering sweet hints of liquorice and some roasted notes.  Molasses, toffee and plenty of port then come to the fore - the port offering up complex dark fruit notes of grape, blackcurrant and prune.  Finishes with a mildy bitter, peppery linger on the palate.  Hardly any hop flavour is discernible.  Alcohol is predominant throughout, and is only just masked enough not to overpower the palate.  The bottle offers a 'Bitter / Sweet' gauge, with scores of 3.5 and 3 out of 5 respectively.  I have to say that the bitterness level is way lower than the sweetness level... at least to my palate it is anyway!

Mouthfeel is thick, yet smooth; Full-bodied and warming.  Moderate/high astringency and very low carbonation levels complete this hit and miss ale.  The balance just doesn't feel right to me.  If you don't like port, then you're pretty screwed, as this is the predominant taste over everything else.  Having said that, I like port, and I do like this.  But... Worlds best beer??  Pfft...

75% - Average