Crouch Vale Brewers Gold

Brewed by Crouch Vale
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
South Woodham Ferrers, England

Bottle (500ml). Shared with blankboy and tupalev, my bottle. Wan, mostly clear pale gold pour, virtually no head. Mild aroma, floral almost perfume hops, light sweet grain - soft. Taste is also floral, but pungently so, more bitterness in the finish, very light grain malt. Watery body, fairly still, solid astringency - long lightly bitter finish - excellent, if light.

(Cask@St.Urho’s) Hazy yellow-golden with a small head. Aromatic-lemony-hoppy, toffeeish aroma. Pale-malty, smoothly lemony-hoppy and fruity flavor. Light to medium-bodied, low-carbonated palate. Nice one for a real ale :P. (Cask@Gallows Bird, Espoo) Golden color with a very small, lacy head. Flowery, fruity toffee aroma. Balanced flavor with some malt and "the same amount" of hops. Balance is the keyword here. Light to medium-bodied, low-carbonated palate. A nicely balanced, but not very special brew as such. Maybe worth a re-rate, though.

Cask (Gallows Bird, Espoo, Real Ale Festival 2007). Very floral sweet bitterness, excellent session bitter. Beautiful to me, but hard to pinpoint why.

Cask conditioned at GBBF Sat 5th August 2006. After having to queue for this I was impressed. Poured a golden colour, with a fruity aroma, initially I got a real citric burst on first taste. This beer had a nice bitterness and tasted really fresh and hoppy. Really enjoyed this but compared with Loz’s (my partner) Pictish Alchemist, I would still go for the latter.

Bottle (500ml) shared with HogTownHarry & tupalev -- courtesy of HogTownHarry. Pours a clear pale gold with a spare diminishing white head -- looks pretty flat. Really mild aroma of floral and citrus hops. Flavour follows the aroma, it’s somewhat watery and consists mainly of light floral hops and citrus with an average bitter finish. Average bodied. I guess if you are in a U.K. hop-free wasteland this seems pretty good but it was pretty dull to me.

Cask@Lincoln Beer Festival 2006. Golden beer with a very dry fruity aroma. The flavour is smooth and light with a slightly watery floralness. Overall a nice golden beer.

Missed this at the 2005 GBBF, so was pleased to catch up with it at The Bedford Festival. The aroma was floral hops, but not dominant. Perhaps it was served a bit too cold? Taste for me was dominated by waxy honey with a hint of fruit, followed by a medium bitter, long-lasting finish. 10.7.07 Cask at Wellington Arms, Bedford. Noted a hint of violet on the aroma and a distinct taste of ginger.

Cask at GBBF. Clear golden colour with a brief white foam. Fresh and clean hoparoma of lemon and orange-peels. Clean floral and citric flavour of lemon, resin and oranges. Long bitter finish of grapefruit. Simplistic but very tasty.