Black Sheep Best Bitter

Brewed by Black Sheep
Style: Bitter
Ripon, England

’the other’ popular bitter around these parts but not as fine as theakstons. All round not a bad beer but just a poor imitation.

Small white creamy head takes a long time to settle. Yellowish coppery hazy body. Faint floral wooden aroma. Dry-sweetish floral fruity resiny taste with wooden notes. Mild, smooth mouthfeel. Mid-to-thin body. Clean and fresh palate. Dryish floral watery wooden aftertaste with dusty resiny notes. Quite nice, but a bit thin. (0.25l cask, The Barony Bar, Edinburgh.)

From cask@Bow Bar, Edinburgh. A hazy, pale amber body with a thin layer of beige foam on top. Yeasty and cellary on the nose, with a discreet, acidulous-fruity hop aroma, along with a scent of sourish malts. Fairly dry, rustic and edgy malt body. Moderate, earthy and slight peppery hop bitterness. Softly carbonated. Dry, bitter ending.

Cask - The Buttermarket, Canterbury. Mostly clear orange - a slight haze - with a small, bubbly white head. Fruity, floral aroma, much the same in terms of flavour - slightly acidic, light and hoppy with some dryness on the finish. Low carbonation, light to medium body, medium length finish. An acceptable session bitter.

Amber with a lasting off-white head. Fruit and toffee aroma. Sweet toffee flavour

Cask@The George. Ambery golden colour with mediumsized beige head. Aroma is earth, flowery hops and also some slight citrusfruity sweet notes. Flavour is earth, bready malts, caramel and it gets quite graint notes in the finish.

(Cask@The George). Clear amber color, small white head, some lace. Cat pee grassy-hayish aroma. Same with flavor: cat pee, hay, notes of lime. A bit boring.

Light golden-brown session ale, ubiquitous in Northern England and deservedly so. Nice hop aroma, good malt flavour and long bitter aftertaste. Very flavoursome, everthing a session bitter should be. Astonishing consistent - never had a bad pint!