Gage Roads London Best

Dark orang with a weak beige head. Fruity sweet aroma of medium intensity. Reasonably sweet caramel flavour and only a slight acidity rather than bitterness. I’ve used quite alot of qualifying adjectives here, telling me this beer is decidedly average.

Hop malt aroma with slight smokeyness. Clear red amber colour with poor head and lacing. Hop malt flavour with bitter aftertaste. Flat palate.

Nice toffee aroma, pours dark amber with an off white head. Flavour is quite good for a 4.4% beer, there is toffee, sherbet and some citrus sourness, but there is a bit of thinness in the finish. Bit of a missed opportunity here, I wonder if this is a bit of mucking around by the beancounters who convinced the brewers to drop the ABV to avoid excise.

330ml bottle, served chilled. Clean copper body with a touch of white foam. Faintly fruity nose, sharp citrus, with a touch of earthy spice and toffee sweetness. Body is relatively thin, low carbonation, sticky texture, a sharp bitterness developing quite quickly. Abrupt palate of flavour, some lemon zest and earthy spice balanced with a touch of toffee, but has a quite sharpness about it that alot of these Aussie made ’bitters’ have. Finish is bitter with a citrus-rind quality to it. Not as bad as some, but another disappointing Aussie ’bitter’.

RE-RATE. Bottle (330ml). Poured light bronze (amber orange?) with a small, rocky, off-white head which was average lasting. Aroma was of barnyard hay with strong notes of stewed fruits, blackberries, sweet biscuity malts and some cobwebs. Flavor was an odd metallic bitterness with dry biscuity malts, blackberries, a hint of toffee and some dirt in the finish. Quite thin. Light bodied with lively carbonation, a watery texture and a short finish. I thought the first bottle I had may have been bad, but it seems they all are. London’s best? I don’t think people in London would use this crap to wash there dogs with.