Duchy Originals Organic Ale

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

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.

500ml brown bottle. Copper/amber shade, hazy. Good head - off white, creamy and lacy. Citrus in the aroma, caramel malt. Flavour also is caramel malts, snappy citrus hops, fruity, also lightly grassy. Finish is hoppy with more grass notes. Pleasant lasting aftertaste, grassy with a littel citrus. Light to medium in body, carbonation is light and not invasive. Decent ale, could drink a few of these in a sitting.

Hardly any head on a light orange-amber body. Nice taste, very smooth, with discreet notes of fruits, otherwise malty. Very well-balanced. A pleasure to drink, not too strong, good session beer!

Poured from the bottle, a copper brown with a little carbonation, the head disappointingly disappears quickly. The aroma is very strong - of fruity hops and a hint of melon. The flavour is malty, a little sweet in my opinion. On the palate though is the perfect amount of bitterness.

Bottle courtesy of tupalev. It’s funny, tupalev’s friend brings him bottles of this from England (which tupalev was kind of enough to share with us) and then a few weeks later it hits the shelves of the LCBO. Pours a clear orange-copper with an average size somewhat-lasting beige head. Aroma’s a little sweet with fruit, caramel malt, grain, bread and earthy hops. Flavour’s malty and grainy upfront followed by bread, fruit and grassy hops -- like a sweet mild Bitter. Light to medium bodied. I’d like it a little less sweet and a tad hoppier but this is still pretty good and easy to drink.

Bottle, 500ml. A dark amber coloured pour with a small lasting head. Aromas of sweet fruit (plum, citrus), malt and hops. A well-balanced hoppy and malty taste with hints of citrus, honey and roasted notes standing out. Alcohol is noticable. A somewhat sweet, fruity finish with a hint of malt. Moderate carbonation. This is good stuff.

This had a decent head.Nice lacing.Aroma of sweet caramel and earthy malt.Had a nice orange brown color.It tasted of a sticky sweet,malt with some raisins .Finished well balanced.Not too sweet and not too bitter.Pretty good beer.

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.