Brakspear Oxford Gold - W.H. Brakspear & Sons plc

woosterbill

Connecticut

4.25/5  rDev +16.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Handpump half-pint at the Southwark Tavern.

A: Clear pale amber body with a very nice finger of creamy tan foam. Great retention and lacing. Lovely.

S: Balanced mix of herbal + piney hops and mildly sweet toffee malt. A little weak, but it's a mild after all.

T: Smooth, smooth, smooth. Malty and fruity up front, with biscuit, toffee, and apricot leading the way to a cleanly bitter finish. Very easy drinking and tasty.

M: Smooth, light, and moderately carbonated.

O: With its style in mind, this is almost a perfect beer: balanced, subtle, nuanced, complex, and hugely quaffable. I could see pint after pint disappearing with zero effort and great enjoyment.

Cheers!

Serving type: cask

06-19-2011 17:21:28 | More by woosterbill

wl0307

United Kingdom (England)

3.38/5  rDev -7.1%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Weaker than the bottle version 4.6%abv., this cask version tasted at my local JDW pub during the chain's real ale festival comes at only 4%abv. Served by a non-sparkler pour into a half-pint glass.

A: translucent, dark amber with deep orangey glows, coming with a thin soapy foam on top of really quiet carbonation.
S: rather astringently citric on the aroma, with an equally considerable input of "dirty-cloth" like pale malts and sulphur, plus a tinge of nectar at the corner. Overall the yeasty intervention rings a bell of Brakspear Bitter as well.
T: so light and crisp on the foretaste, full of floral flavours and followed by a lightly stinky, sulphurous swallow of biscuity malts almost like a traditional pale ale (brewed with double-drop or union system)... an orangey-citric and even zesty taste of hops expands along with more semi-chewy bitterness at the back, leading towards a long, bitter and tangy finish where a touch of leafy-herbs (the palate is almost like that of mint-leaves?!) lingers.
M&D: light-bodied, slightly yeasty but overall quite fresh for a cask ale. Brakspear's yeastiness certainly leaves a deep imprint in the overall flavour profile, rendering a lightly dryish touch throughout the drink. Solid!

Serving type: cask

12-07-2008 19:10:59 | More by wl0307