Greene King IPA (Cask)

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

cask @ Clarendon House, Kenilworth. Light amber in colour with aromas of black current, prune, and bramble fruit. Unremarkable flavors of light caramel, very leafy hops... really more like leaves than hop flowers. Greassy in a bad way. Light bodied with an odd peppery bitterness. Not good.

Smooth, inoffensive, brewed to be tolerable to all, I suppose. This means a rather bland and boring beer, but I suppose that was what they were looking for.

Clear pale amber coloured ale mounted by a small and fading white head. Rather generic nose of sloppy grainy malts and herbal, simplistic hops. Very lean bodied, which makes for a highly drinkable offering, but the taste is simply lacking as the lazy grassy hops procure not so bad a bitterness that does not translate into aromas.

Cask @ The Nelson, Waterloo. A hoppy IPA that was more mild bitter. Nice maltiness and smooth and creamy. Better than I expected.

Darkish amber, small beige head. Delicate caramel aroma. Basic, fruity taste with a medium-light body that lacks any real bitterness. Overall, a boring and one-dimensional IPA.

Cask at the Stanhope Arms, Glouchester Road, London. Closest pub to my hotel, so I started here - not a bad pull. Clear light amber, smallish head. Light grassy aroma, mild sweet malt, pretty bland, really. The taste was fairly decent - quite light, but the hops ramped up a bit to herbal-grassy, and carried it for the short walk to the finish - light body, mild astringency, no aftertaste - surprisingly quaffable on a muggy evening.

Cask, Whey Pat Tavern - can’t believe this is a new rate for me, I just always avoid the stuff when I see it in the pub. Nose is damp and stale with some minimal hop character. Mouth is much the same, with some grassy hop taste. Bit rubbish on the palate. Not great.

I had this ale on a hot sommer afternoon and was satisfied. Nice creamy head and subtle flow. It is rather light in body (and low in alcohol), has a clean taste with touches of butterscotch toffees, grass and pears. The "english ale" disctinctive hoppy bitterness is practically non existent. Having checked the reviews on www.ratebeer.com most seem to moan about this brew being "thin". I would agree if compared to say a Young’s Special London Ale, however would believe the lightness is a virtue here. This is a great thist quencher for hot afternoons, on a cold winternight I probably would not have loved it much.