This beer looks great - deep, dark mahogany with a cherry & ruby hue and a foamy mocha head which offers some retention and lacing.
On the nose, there is plenty of toasted crystal and chocolate malt giving off a sugary sweet aromas. Complex fruit character with background hints of cocoa and coffee. No discernible hops that I can make out.
This is a tasty brew indeed. Tons of toffee sweetness up front, along with coffee, molasses, liquorice and bitter dark chocolate. Fruity mid-palate of raisins, cherries and plums coats the palate, before being cooled off by pine hop flavour and mild bitterness and very little astringency.
Beautifully balanced. The hop profile is hardly going to keep you interested for long, but it compliments the big malt flavours perfectly!
Gentle, light carbonation throughout. Smooth texture with a full body, Old Peculier goes down a treat. The alcohol provides sufficient heat to the palate to make its presence known, but it is well masked at kept at bay.
A masterful brew that has no faults. Looks good, smells good, tastes good and feels good...
That sounds tasty! I'm going to have to try one myself. I haven't seen it on the shelves around my area before. It's from England?
ReplyDeleteHi, yes it's from England. It's a malty beast with tons of flavour!
ReplyDeleteI'm a great fan of this beer, though personally I don't think it transfers well into bottles. Perhaps if it was bottle conditioned it might be better, but even from cask this beer has persistent problems. When at its best, this is my favourite beer ever, but it's rarely at its best, IMO. I discuss this more on my blog here - http://wp.me/p1BGVZ-t
ReplyDelete-Alebagger
Hi Alebagger. Great post on OP you've written. I imagine that if this were bottle conditioned, it would be truly spectacular, but I cannot comment on the cask version as I've never come across it! I will have to hunt it down on cask and see how different it is to the bottled version.
ReplyDeleteI hope when you find it that it's in good condition. It's SOOO inconsistent. If you find it in top form, it'll blow your socks off!
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