Greene King St. Edmunds Ale

Formerly brewed at Greene King
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Bury St. Edmunds, England

(Bottle 50 cl) Dark golden with a handsome, rich head. Weak, nutty, malty flavours with a marked, bitter finish. Decent, but not really very premium... 310700

Pale copper color with a full lacy head. Aroma of Goldings hops and crystal malt. Body is full and has the properties of a bitter, light on malt with a strong bitter finish. Pretty true to its English style, but nothing special.

Bottled, Pasteurised. Red brown beer with lasting though muddy coloured head. Strange aroma, can't pick it out but a little off putting. Should have a roasted malt quality, but it is more metallic, tinny but there is a pleasant hop flavour that saves the beer a little. Dark beer that doesn't quite make it.

Orange brown color with a tall dark cream colored head. Decent lace. English nose, with caramel, brown sugar, butterscotch, old wood and traditional hopsack. Initial toasty sweetness taken back by dry earthy wood flavor. Finish is dry and uneventful.

Initially pleasing with a warm hit of alcohol firmly rooted in a flavoursome and solid malt body with enough zippy hops to create an invigorating balance, this quickly slides into yet another strong sweet beer with not enough enduring character to want to drink more. Worth a ranking of 5 for the neat trick of creating such a quality gap between first delicious gulp and last unpleasant sip.

Draughyt. Low fluffy off-white quickly disappearing head. Clear amber body. Weak honey fruity aroma. Weak honey fruity flavor with low carbonation and a short aftertaste.

330ml bottle. Golden and sticky looking. Pours without a head if so desired. Superb bitter aroma, plenty nutty, some toffee-sweet. Enormous but well balanced flavour - spoilt a little with a mettalic tinge, but otherwise a fullsome malt and bitter combination. Moreish.

From the excellent Greene King PLC comes, once again, an excellent Suffolk ale. Definite citrusy/sourish notes and a mild malt body. This could easily be classified as a Bitter. Ringo is right when he refers to a distinctive "English" taste and how most UK brews have it. I'd love to know what malt/hop combo is so prevalent "across the pond" that it makes most of their beers distinctively English.