Crouch Vale Brewers Gold

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

Cask at Reading Beer Festival 27 Apr 06. Golden colour. Unclear. Hops and tropical fruits in the aroma. Malty and fruity aftertaste.

Cask at the Eastbourne Beer Festival, 9th Oct 2008. The Daddy of English Golden Ales, this was not in the form that I remember it in when I first tasted it in Oxford, just after its CBOB win in 2005. Farmyard funk spoils the aroma. Bright clear gold appearance. The balance in the taste is still there and the finish is just long enough but I really need to re-rate this at some point in the future.

Cask @ 3 Judges. Very nice to have come across. High expectations for this one. Light golden colour, white head. Aroma is sweet malty. Flavour has sweet malts, is dry and has some fruits. Overall disappointing, nothing more than a regular golden ale. Definitely worth a rerate!

Gravity, Oxford CAMRA Festival. Attractive light copper with a cap of sticky white head. Bright fruity and citrus aromas with a nice catty smack, (could there be Columbus in here?) light carmel sweetness, soft all around. The flavor has a subtle play between the estery fruitiness, fresh hop flavor, and soft malts, all blended so seamlessly that it’s impossible to tell where one ends and the others begin. A delicious lingering toastiness in the finish. This is a profoundly good, well-made ale, thoroughly deserving it’s accolades. An amazing amount of flavor and interest packed into such a work-a-day style. Also a solidly English beer in yeast character.

Peterborough Festival. Beer of the festival for me - Goldie looking body, fruity citric taste, almost sour grapefruit in its looks and taste, suprisingly balanced palate, great finish of bitterness balancing out the sourness.

Cask @ Real Ale Festival, Gallows Bird, Espoo. Wonderful aroma, honey wood and pear. Very pale, medium head. Very fruity, almost like a lambic-feeling to it. Except for the lacking bubbles.

cask @ The Eagle and Child, Oxford. Sunny yellow in colour with aromas of lemon rind, white pepper, and pale malt. Zesty and hoppy with notes of citrus and green grass. Tasted blind, I might have suspected a bit of coriander was in there, but that might just be my wacky palate. Any hint of malt that was there in the nose, drops away almost completely in the mouth. Medium bodied with firm (although somewhat subtle) bitterness. Very refreshing, and undoubtedly a quality beer, but I think their Amarillo was much better.

Cask at the East Anglian Beer Festival.Wow an amazing,exotic,fruit filled explosion of an ale,once I had tried this I could have stuck with it for the entire festival.