Batemans XXXB (Bottle)

Brewed by Batemans
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Skegness, England

Sampled on 12/3/2009. This ESB/Bitter pours a medium brown color from a 50cl bottle. Small to medium sized, quickly diminishing white foamy head, with not much lacing. The aroma is caramel, earthy and mineraly, some tea and citrusy. A medium to light bodied bitter. The malts are fruity and sweet, touch of peat, some clay and some minerals. The hops are earthy and citrusy. There is a touch of citrus as well. Kind of a strange beer, it starts out malty and kind of sweet, then goes earthy and mineraly in the middle and finishes kind of dry with some tartness. Not sure what to make of all that, or if its all supposed to be there. Decent carbonation. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is crisp, clean and dry. Aftertaste is slightly bitter and tart.

Light copper color with just a hint of red. Smaller light cream colored head with a nice lace pattern. Certainly the Matis Otter malt aroma. LIght earth, clay, caramel and hint of peat. A very mild floral hops presence. Lightly sweet and a bit nutty as it progresses. Bitterness does not seem to balance that well for me. It’s got a bit of citrus that distracts from the sweetness, but doesn’t necessarily let it go. I end up with a bitter, dry, malt coated orange. I seem to be catching some banana late. Seems a bit of a mess to me.

Was surprised when I ran into this one at Berkeley Bowl (West) this last week. Always remember it from the great Michael Jackson series The Beer Hunter. Has a really strange top of the bottle. At first I thought it was some type of plastic do-dad, but it’s not. Its part of the bottle! (label lists this as VEGAN!!). Pours small head with large bubbles, which starts to fall quickly, leaving a bit of lace on the side of the glass. Body is dark tan. Appears clear so I’m guessing they’re filtering their bottled version. Aroma is clearly on the malt side with banana and bubblegum most prevalent in the nose. Fortunately, those oddities don’t carry over to the flavor where you encounter little hop character, but lots of the malts. Very nice flavor, typical of an English pale ale. Slight bubblegum aftertaste. VERY slight, but still present. Honestly, didn’t bug me. palate is clean. Body is slightly thicker than normal. Would buy it again if it weren’t as expensive as it was ($4.50/btl).

24th August 2007. Darkish beer. Nutty and a little bitter. A room temperature bottle.

50cl bottle: Dark red in colour with an off-white, semi-fizzy head. Caramel and butterscotch prominent in the aroma, but to a reasonable degree. Whiffs of raw, earthy hops and minerals. Flavour profile is similar, some toasty malts. Pretty well balanced between sweetness and bitterness, a noteworthy acidity comes through as well. OK, albeit a bit lifeless.

500ml bottle BB 04May10 Clean deep amber coloured body, small but persistant offwhite head. Rich biscuity aroma. Sweet toffee with hints of roasted malts. Background notes of resin, spice and plum. Full chewy malt body, carbonation is restrained. Burnt toffee and nutty malts on the body, quite sweet. Dark fruits in the background whilst grassy, spicy hops play around on the tongue and add a quite low yet lingering bitter dryness. Pretty decent bitter. Nice complexity of malt, hops and fruity undertones, leaning towards the sweeter side.

11/04/2009: Bateman’s Triple XB... Aroma: Oxidized aroma; hints of vanilla and apple. Appearance: Ruddy ruby copper color with a fair off-wite head. Flavor: Dry, oxidized (cardboard), delicately floral; slightly buttery; mild bitterness. Palate: Medium-light; calm and smooth. Overall: Typical pastuerized bitter that has sat in the bottle on a ship or loading dock for too long.

1 pint, 0.9 fl. oz. bottle ( Alc. 5.0% by Vol.) shared by Tmoney99. Thanks Tom! Rating #158 for this beer.

Bottle from Root Cellar. Poured clear brown color with an average frothy off-white head that mostly lasting with good lacing. Moderate toasted sweet malt aroma. Medium body with a smooth dry texture and soft carbonation. Medium bittersweet flavor with a medium bittersweet finish of moderate duration. Solid drinkable beer.