Bath Golden Hare

Brewed by Bath
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Bristol, England

Cask Handpump at the Hare & Hounds, Crowton 03/06/2009 Floral and hop aroma. Small white head. Golden coloured hoppy and pale with a little dryness and bitterness in a crisp and creamy malt finish.

Real Ale 0.25L tasted at Black Door. Pale head /8 mm). Mild nose. Pale golden colour. Soft slightly roasty taste. At the end hoppy bite. Slight sweetness.

50cl bottle from Sainsburys. Straw with a fast-fading loose white head, and light carbonation; grainy wheaty aroma with a touch of honey; tastes like a Bavarian lager with a sweet grainy body and a toasty Saaz hop bitterness to finish. Good, but not what I was expecting.

Bottle from Sainsburys,Kidlington, Oxon. Consumed in a field at Towersey Festival, Oxon, August 29th 2009 One of Loz’s favourite breweries so we always end up taking some Bath beers to a festival. Pours pale golden with white bubbly head. The aroma is fruity and with a dab of honey in there, there is also some hops straining to make an impression. Taste is fruity and whilst you hope that it will be as crisp, fresh and zesty as you might expect from this style of beer it never quite manages to. Its reasonably refreshing and has a nice bitter edge and bite, but the maltiness and toffee flavours dull it slightly its fine enough though. A6 A4 F6 P3 Ov12 3.1

Bottle, from Sainsburys Hessle. Gold, thin but lasting white head and good condition. Initially sweet and honeyed in the nose with caramel and vanilla notes developing and a suggestion of buttery toffee, quite full bodied in the mouth, the sweetness briefly shows itself with more toffee and honey before a solid hop bitterness takes over with some earthy floral notes, staying with you into the finish, dissipating with time to let the toffee notes have a final flourish.

Nose: Caramel, barley sugar. Taste: Biscuit Nice golden colour and refreshing carbonation.

Cask (?, Helsinki)
Pale persistent loose head. Light grains and honey aroma. Simple refreshing grainy ody, some ginger, some grapefruit. Finish is a touch bitter. A very easy drinker, but a bit watery. A good golden ale, but still just a golden ale.

500 bottle from Sainsbury’s. One of the 15 in the 2009 Sainsury’s Beer Competition. A pale coloured ale with a firm mouthfeel, soft, rounded; clean toffee, with an integrated English hop bitterness lingering long into the finish. This is a reasonable ale that behaves well, but doesn’t excite. The colour is pale and modern, while the hop use is fairly traditional. The blurb is "full flavoured light ale", and I can see what they are aiming for - but such light ales either are floral and fragrant, or have a light and crisp malt base - this has neither. It doesn’t quite work for me, but is OK.