Burton Bridge Empire Ale

Brewed by Burton Bridge
Style: English Strong Ale
Burton-on-Trent, England

A lightly hazed dark amber ale with an ultra thick persistent off white head, like an Achel or an Orval. A peppery hop in aroma, herbal and wild. The foam itself is pure hop juice, lots of humulones retained. Wow! In mouth, a wild crisp malt, with lingering bitterness, grapefruit, wild herbs, and brett. A truly wild IPA, veering in Orval territory! Shared with Beerbuzzmtl. Merci Denis!!!

vas-y, dit la petite voix....

$5 for a single 500ml bottle at Whole Foods. Better be good. Pours a cloudy amber, well carbonated. aroma is spicy/funky hops. flavor is excellent: a nice broad malt profile fades immediately into a ton of hop flavor. beautifully balanced, only a little sweet (drier than most english IPAs). hides the 7.5% pretty well. A winner.

Cloudy golden-orange body with a long lasting large off-white head. Nose is foresty and a bit spicy (cloves?). Alcohol feels more than 7.5% and dominates the weakly malted body. Once you get passed the initial alcohol attack you’re treated with a rather nice grapefruit flavoured hoppy finale. A nice beer that could use a thicker body and/or lower abv. Label says it’s a re-creation of beer served to the Victorian men serving the empire. Those were the good days, strong tasty beer, cheap brothels and jack the ripper. Nowadays all they have is 3.5% light beers, expensive hookers and Tony Blair.

KP’s Fest. Infected with Brett. Pours a nice pale cloudy body with a frothy thick head. Aroma is straight brett infection- funky, musty, hoseblanket and barnyard aromas. Leather and hay flavor with some hoppiness in the end. Yeasty profile overall, smooth even with the high carbonation. Im not sure if this was supposed to have brett in it, probalby shouldt be there, but I still think it was a really complex and nice funky beer. I would buy this if I knew it would be infected.

Murky yellow/dark yellow body with three or four finger thick white head. Smells skunky initially (Which would make sense with the importing and the amount of hops...) But seems to wear off (hopefully this one won’t be skunked!), and there’s a light sweet scent with a hint of hops... A little skunk in the taste. Without the skunk, there’s a fair bit of malt (fruitiness too perhaps?) with enough hops to balance it out. While it would be so much better if it did not have that skunk factor, this would be far and away one of the best IPAs I have ever ever tried. The non-skunked flavors are fantastic. Thus I give it a higher rating than the product I have in front of me really earns, but probably lower than it would be fresh... If you can find this on tap or fresh somewhere, get it! NOTE: It tastes different, more subdued, and less skunked once you mix the yeast at the bottom of the bottle with the beer.

Pours a dark walnut hue with lots of head. Aroma is of malt and spicey earthy hops.....noble hops, quite bland though. Taste is very malty with some hop bite at the end. Hop bitterness is sorta astringent. Farliy balanced, but I favor the american IPA’s more.

Bottle, as I watched the Def Leppard story on VH1. Pours deep yellow/gold with nice head and lacing. Aroma is peach and slight Sprite. Flavor is lemon, strawberry, with a sweet floral finish. A bit too tart, however. Palate is slippery. A little too easy to drink for an IPA but it’s enjoyable and refreshing.

Bottle picked up at The Grog Shop, Oxford, 17-08-06.Poured amber coloured, maybe I’m being a bit harsh but much like the last beer of Burton Bridge’s that I tasted (Tickle Brain) this one has that same harsh alcohol taste, ok so it’s not quite as rough as the Tickle Brain but it’s still there and for me it takes the shine off what I know is a well brewed and probably quaility beer. Not particularly hoppy, little bit sticky, this beer has a lot going for it but it needs the edges smoothing off.