Old TImer - Wadworth and Company Ltd.

popery

California

3.66/5  rDev -3.4%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

Pours a warm ruby-amber color. Clear. There’s some sediment at the bottom of the bottle, but with my elite pouring skill, I managed to keep it out of the glass. Small rocky head. Looks like they went with a cask mouthfeel attempt. Nice lacing. Only a thin coating of bubbles remains after a minute. The aroma has solid malt sweetness. There’s a toasty tone to it. Doughy. Lots of English yeast fruitiness to the point that it gets a touch medicinal. Apricots, raisins, grapes, pears. The taste starts out sweet with more of that rich, lightly toasted malt flavor. Finish has light mineral dryness and earthy hop bite. It’s definitely on the sweet side but still maintains much of that English ale balance that makes their beers so easy to quaff. Lots of flavor for the strength. It’s a bit over the top, but I can certainly see the appeal as a seasonal beer. The sweetness in the finish has a mildly off flavor that I can’t quite place - it’s sort of a medicinal fruitiness. Nothing terrible, just a mild ding for me. Mouthfeel is smooth and low carbonation. Nice take on the cask mouthfeel for a bottled beer. This isn’t my favorite English beer on the shelf, but it’s good and I always appreciate getting to try a new one, since so few make it into bottles much less to the US.

Serving type: bottle

04-14-2013 06:07:16 | More by popery

BlackHaddock

United Kingdom (England)

3.85/5  rDev +1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

500ml Bottle conditioned: BBD 4th Aug 2013. Poured into two half-pint glasses on 2013's New Years Eve during my 'Drinking around Europe' evening.

My wife choose this beer for England (and my age I suspect!): pours a lovely deep amber colour, on top a full but fairly thin biege crown of foaming bubbles.

The nose and taste were complex and interesting: aroma was malty, musty and fruity, the taste very simular with anutty, woody feel added.

Thinner body than I expected but still OK and it suited the beer nicely. The 5.8% ABV being hidden well within the flavours of the beer. Old Timer calmed us down a little and my head on the 1st Jan 2013 thanked this beer for helping to prevent a 'hangover from Hell'.

Serving type: bottle

01-02-2013 09:45:49 | More by BlackHaddock

fullsweep

United Kingdom (England)

3.65/5  rDev -3.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

500 mL brown bottle poured into a pint glass

A: light brown, mostly transparent with some orange hits when held up to the light

S: rustic, a malty sweetness in the scent, but with some pleasantly unusual smells I can't quite place too

T: more sweet than bitter, a mild hint of orange/citrus with a foundational base of maple and a bitter finish with a hit of lemon zest

M: moderately carbonated (in a good way) with a stickiness to it.

D: very nice, although the higher ABV (even if typical for an Old Ale) means I won't have this very often

Serving type: bottle

03-18-2011 00:06:43 | More by fullsweep

Zimbo

United Kingdom (Scotland)

3.98/5  rDev +5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

A long time since I last had this beer,this has a lovely mahogany colour with just a dash of cloudiness and orangy hues. The head is big at first but deflates to something more managable over the course of consumption.Some lice delicate lacing.

Taste wise there are very dark fruits, a vinous and dominant yeasty quality with perhaps a fluttering of hazelnut.

Dry at the end with a zestiness and sharp end.

A stubborn old schoool beer which shows how it should be done.

Serving type: bottle

01-27-2011 23:03:22 | More by Zimbo