Greene King IPA (Cask)

Brewed by Greene King
Style: Bitter
Bury St. Edmunds, England

Cask. Clear golden with a standard white cap. Aroma is a weak, but shows citrus and grain, as well as some skunky crystal malt. Flavour is quite boring and one-dimensional, but not unpleasant. Citrus, more stale grain, some dark old fruits. Not very bitter, not very great.

5 Aug 06. Draft. Drank this in London at Summer Party for work. Not really very good. Pretty weak and non-descript.

Cask at George Inn. Clear copper with a small white head. Earthy orange, pretty hoppy with medium bitterness. Typical characterless mild Enligsh IPA. Thin and a bit watery. Decent but too light and not tasty enough. There never was a King Greene, and I whish there never was a Greene King IPA.

Cask. I used to drink this when real ale was hard to find. Average bitter - but can be appalling in taste in some pubs. Would only drink it if nothing else better at the bar - but there usually is, including fosters.

Cask at the Green Man, Marylebone, London. I’m sorry to say that I travelled to England expecting the inventors of IPA to have an impressive representation of the style. This one, however, has the body and palate of a lightly hopped bitter with no character, no vitality, and no flavor to speak of. If Fuji made a hop-flavored water, Greene King IPA would be it, if you ignored all the cleaning-product and fishbowl water qualities it has.

Cask, Handpump @ .... . Golden with a pretty white creamy head. A strong caramal malt aroma. Fruity slightly bitter finish.

Handpump @ the Green Man, Horsted Keynes.
Clear, deep gold with a soapy, quickly diminishing white head that left minor lacing. Couldn’t pick up any aroma as the bar was rowdy by now. Thin, dry and soapy in the mouth. Wishy-washy flavours of stale, acrid hops, cardboard, plasticine and dusty malt with a good serving of burnt caramel. After a few mouthfuls it becomes lifeless and seems to lose it’s flavour completely being replaced by dank liquor which repeats itself in the aftertaste. This was a watery mess that was ill-defined and boring as hell. How did this manage to take out top spot in Bitter at the GBBF. Good to get it out the way first before moving onto something with true flavour.

Cask: Copper coloured, lacing, small head; faint fruity (also with a touch of vegetables) and very very light bitter nose; distinctive bitter flavour, rather light bodied; lingering medical bitter and fruity finish. A bit thin, not really satisfying............