Black Sheep Ale

Brewed by Black Sheep
Style: Bitter
Ripon, England

Pint bottle purchased from Jonathan’s in LaJolla. Pours slightly hazy copper color with a moderate white head. Aroma is mild and unremarkable - with only a faint toasty malt detectable and the slightest bit of floral hoppiness. Comparatively flavorful, with a somewhat fruity malt sweetness and a pretty significant hop presence with floral, herbal varieties well represented and a bit of lemon citrus and a bit of pepper in the finish. Medium body and assertive carbonation. Not bad and at 4.4% abv I could drink this one all night.

(Bottle) Nice amber/copper body topped with a thick off-white bubbly/frothy head. Strong but rather unidimensional hoppy/herbal aroma. Fair hoppy (Golding) taste that also lacks complexity. It ends with a sharp and long bitter finish. Average ESB.

From the bottle: Pours a litght copper colour with a significant creamy off white head that has some staying power. Aroma is sweet and creamy floral hop. flavour has some bite to it with a slighly bitter hop finish.

Pours a slice-of-bread head that’s creamy on the top, sudsy on the bottom. It’s a nice golden brown. Aroma was immediately sweet, biscuity malt when I opened it, but the fresh cut grass smell of hops wafts up to dominate it all soon enough. I can also detect some fancy molasses in there along with some faint honey. The mouthfeel is light and somewhat dry, with a medium-average carbonation. First taste is a fist o’ hops! I was not prepared for it, so at first that’s all I could focus on. After a while, the light malty sweetness wiggles into the mix, all subdued, heightened by some pleasant honey notes. The bitter finish rocks it all up and lingers into the aftertaste (which does dry out the tongue). All ’round, an excellent brew.

Smells like pastry and light hops. Large off-white frothy head which is mostly lasting. Medium amber/orange colour. Initially the flavour is moderately bitter but ends with light bitterness and light sweetness. Medium body with soft carbonation.

Good Strong hoppy aroma. Sharp flavor on first taste. With a mild meaty bite all through out the beer. Slight aftertaste with a light toffee flavor. This was a nice beer.

Not too bad of a beer. pours nice with a good head. Lacing down to the last drink. Aroma is that of malt and some faint hops. Taste is typical British bitter to me. Palate is dominated by malt, with some good hop bitterness and fairly dry, somewhat minerally finish. Overall a good beer that I would drink again.

Good head and lacing on this brew. A dark pour that really looked good. A bit sharp in the aftertaste, but overall a good one.