Greene King IPA (Cask)

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

Cask at Pakenham Arms, London. Copper colored with small lace head. The aroma is fruity and a bit yeasty with salty minerals. Tropical fruits and minerals continue into the taste beside some spicy and fruity hop flavor. Finishes mildly bitter. This is almost too smooth and disppears immeadedly from the pint.

(Cask at Lord Clyde, Borough, London 23 Apr 2006) Colour is dark amber to copper. Nose is malty and fruity with hints of oranges and mandarin. Taste is mainly malty, almost bready, with hints of nuts and caramel. Somewhat thin, but still fairly enjoyable and easy to drink.

Cask at The Clarence (Whitehall - London).
Much limpid red color and firm one. Light malty aroma with rumors of wood and withered grape. Dry, smooth and decidedly bitter taste. Light alcohol presence only on the end. Lightly watery and little persistent.

Cask@Blue Bell Inn, Rothley, Leicestershire. Brownish golden beer with a strong creamy head. The aroma is lightly caramel and toffee, and the flavour is slightly fruity, caramel bitter and apple juice. Overall too smooth on the palate, watery, gasey and not particularly a real ale.

Cask in Charlton. Nutty color with off-white head. Aroma moderate malty and hoppy (round). Flat carbonated, watery.

On tap at the Eagle in Cambridge.

Lovely setting, mediocre beer - but a middle -of-the-road cask bitters carries over well in the right time and place, going down easy and more or less not going to the head whatsoever at 3.6%. This one pours an amber brown with nodescript malt and slightly sour hops on the aroma. The mouthfeel is watery as one would expect, and the finish is not clean the way that one finds from some of the better entries in the style; instead it’s a bit metallic/sour on the finish. Nonetheless, it was no chore to put down a couple of pints of this one. Perhaps that’s the best thing I can say about it.

A deep, amber red colour with a weak white head. the nose is light, slightly sweet and a little malty. The taste is again light, fairly weak, malty with a sweet, candy floss flavour. There is a dry, bittersweet finish. the aftertaste is weak, but malty and cloying.

Cask at The Eagle, Cambridge. Small head. Hops and caramel aroma, thin with slightly hoppy flavour. Slightly gassy.