Duchy Originals Organic Ale

Brewed by Wychwood (Refresh UK - Marstons plc)
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Witney, England

A deep orange/amber beer, with a creamy froathy head. Aroma of grass, lite malts, and bread. Aroma slightly reminds me of wychwoods scarecrow beer, so I’m assuming the the bread and grass aroma comes from the Plumage Archer barley. Flavors of malts, and hops, with some bready character. The palat has some decent carbonation, but a watery dry finish wich leaves somethign to be desired. Not a bad beer, but certainely could be better.

Generous head and lacing. Fresh, The hophead dose of a double IPA in a 5% beer. Much higher IBU tasting than a typical English bitter or IPA style. Hop leaf taste, grassy, mildly astringent, some malt and bitterness in a long aftertaste. Offset was beery cheese aroma.

Fruity/bubblegum nose. Head is loose and quickly dissipates. It’s a little too heavy on the tongue for my tastes. Burnt sugar and bready notes. I prefer my Bitters with a little more bit. Cheers!

500 mL bottle. Lovely copper colour with nice head. Pleasant aroma of sweet malt, balanced by a hoppy tanginess. Tastes very . . . fresh. Again, nice malt/hops balance. You need to let it warm up a bit to get the full effect of the malt. Caramel sweetness comes through just before the finish. Nice bitter (and slightly metallic) finish. More heavily carbonated than some other premium bitters. Not bad, and bonus points for being organic.

500 ml bottle - pours clear rust colour with a decent 2 finger white head. Very earthy and malty aroma, with some yeast as well. Alcohol present in the aroma as well. Flavours fairly subdued, mainly grainy/malty with some woody hops. Nice round body, and good soft carbonation. Better than the sum of its parts because it’s very drinkable.

Bottle from the LCBO. Nice brilliant copper colour with a good sized white head. The aroma is decent, with some solid maltiness, and notes of caramel and orange peel. Body is good for the style, with soft carbonation. The flavour is pleasant and well balanced, with malt and grain notes off the top, some orange-candy sweetness in the middle, and a grassy hoppiness to finish. A very nice ale.

500ml bottle Poured a light copper color with a 2 finger white cap that lasts and laces. Aromas of leafy herbs and succulent fruits under a caramel malt tone. Flavor is quite pleasant and surprisingly more complex than I would have expected for an organic brew. Upfront caramel malts mingle with ambiances of ripe succulent fruits, floral tones of upland botanicals like heather, mid palate a nice swirl of toasty-char astringency mingles with the now bittering hops, finish is wet with a light fruit-malt sweetness riding over a light metallic bittering. Very nicely put together ESB, pleasant, drinkable, complex enough to be interesting and the flavors seem more discrete. ESB is not a style I’m partial to but this ale is quite pleasant and surprisingly more complex than I would have expected for an organic brew. This is the 3rd organic brew I’ve found to do this and it validates the contention that organic malts, hops and other botanicals used in brewing are more flavorful.

Clean amber, orange. Little off white head. Malty sweet aroma, with like floaral hop aroma. Flavour is sweet and malty caramelish. Had a dry finish with light hop bitters.