Greene King Strong Suffolk (Olde Suffolk)

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

Tasted 10/22/07. 500ml bottle. Dark with a ruby caramel hue. Moldy off-white head. Caramel and alcohol aromas. Toffee nose. Crisp and smooth with a medium body and a nice caramel sweetness. Moderate effervescence and tight acidity. Bitter and off-dry. Off set by the malt character. Oaky vanilla flavors. Mild citrus hop profile. Nutty and toasty. Solid sticky English style. Nice dry effort. Woody with a solid burn. Touch fruity undertones. Slight cherry flavor. Vanilla dessert beer. Delicious.

Pours brown with a minor head. Aroma is Sweet and malty. Moderate mouth feel with a sweet malty flavor reminiscent of dark fruits and some caramel with a mild hop bitterness.

Dark reddish brown with a receding off white head. Aroma: roasted malt, dark fruits like a dark belgian, and some oak. Flavor: same as aroma, but with some more malt complexity, chocolate and some bitterness to offset the sweetness. Maybe a tiny bit tangy. The palate is soft and full bodied. Very good.

This is a deep, slightly brownish ruby red with a dense, big, light tan head that dissipates slowly to leave a thin lasting top and a little lacing. The aroma is strongly fruity with toasted bread, caramel, earthiness, hints of juniper, port, brandy, and chocolate. The taste is fruity with a light but definite gingerbread or pontefract cake flavour (a hint of licorice), definite bitterness up front & in the finish, with definite chocolate & wheat bread to fill it out. It has burnt sugar and light piney bitterness to complement the light sweetness. The palate is full and complex, and lively for the style. It is also drier than many f the style, with a more juniopery-juicy hop quality than some. All round, this is a satisfyingly tasty and full-bodied beer, easy to drink.

17oz bottle via Roths. Pours a dark brown with a nice beige head. Nose is very nice... lots of dark fruity esters, vanilla, oak, malty and a little alcoholic. Taste is the same and some a little chocolate, raisin, and nuttiness...even a little roastiness. Body is medium, carbonation seems a bit high. Pretty good stuff, and quite tasty for only a 6% abv ale!

Dark brown with a hint of red. Little head to speak of. Nose of hops, caramel, grapes, and a little malt. Flavours of caramel, nuts, licorice, malt, with a slightly alcoholic finish. I taste a bit of oak in there as well. Excellent spectrum of flavours, as well as being well balanced. Medium full mouthfeel with smooth oaky finish. I enjoyed this ale quite a lot.

Pint bottle - I love trying true English/Scottish ales as they usually put the American counterparts to shame. This is a nice, carmel flavored ale. Deep ruby color, thin head that disappears quickly, it does have a flavor unlike anything I recall before. I like it.

Fairly clear mahogany-maroon pour with a staying, thin skin of beige. Aroma of cinnamon bread and raisins, peppermint, and butterscotch. Some candi sugar, butter cookies and dirty malt; slightly phony. Thin taste of green apples with cinnamon and sugar, oak and vanilla. Hints of banana and pistachio; all of these, however, being mere intimations of nuance, like shadows cast by a low sun to suggest an illusory dimension. Really, very little is happening, although the taste of the caramel color has a bit of weight. Fairly light and spicy in the mouth with a slight bite of overcarbonation. Finishes with overripe apple peel, drying out into paper and walnut skin. Seems to be another example of the fairly reckless violence that bottling and pasteurization does to british styles; cask treatment would suit this so lovingly. In this capacity, it’s very weak and unlikable, however easy it is to imagine the possibilities.