Greene King Strong Suffolk (Olde Suffolk)

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

500ml bottle-pours a big tan head and deep red color. Aroma is wood, fruit-tart cherry, medium malt, some spice hops. Taste is confusing. Fruit-tart cherry/vinegar, medium malt-toffee/chocolate, wood, some herb hops, some roasty. Cask-like bock. The sharp/vinegar character is a detractor that I just couldn’t get around. Thanks to deepsouth for trade with Joe-jwc215 and me.

Bottle. Pours a medium chestnust brown. Thin off white bubble head. Nose is stale malt, like a cheap beer. Flavors are brown sugar, caramely malts. I did not dig this too much.

[bottle] Potent aroma of spicy caramel and floral, UK hops; notes of sweet cream, walnuts and red wine. Dark garnet and clear, with a lasting, beige foam on top. Flavour is complex; bittersweet toffee with significant floral hops and notes of liquorice and biscuits. Also a refreshing sour tang that helps to offset the almost perceptible ethanol. Medium body, medium carbonation, slightly bitter finish.

Pours dark brown with a small head. Aroma has brown sugar sweetness, wood, and ripe dark fruit. Flavor is intensely sweet and peaty at first, revealing vanilla and bourbon sweetness. Towards the finish a roasted flavor creeps in, followed by a bit of sourness. An interesting and complex brew.

Duvel glas, bottle. nice head with, reddish ruby brown appearance. Caramel, oak and cherry, cookie dough, hints of raisins and citrus. Enjoyable long spicy aftertaste. One of the better British ales but nothing breath-taking. A nice and solid experience. Yes Please again sometime. Hard to get here in Sweden.

Bottle back at The Penguin. Dark ruby collared briefly with beige; seems to darken as it pours- probably just bad light. Enticing toffee, fruit cake, cherry, jellied red fruit, Kentish hop and mellow oaky snout, I’ve got to admit. Milky slick caramel palate sliding down inoffensively. Caramel, oak and cherry as suggested by the aroma. Not a lot of bang for your 6 % ABV buck, and certainly no ’old ale’ characteristics whatsoever, despite the alledged teaspoon of Old 5X. Bread, honey and faint vanilla nuttiness for dessert. Still, proof that not everything GK brew is rubbish, which just makes them all the more infuriating.

Bottle. Pours a dark and reddish brown with a minimal head. Aromas are decent enough... a nice mix of wood and must with dark fruit (figs and cherries) and toffee. It has a bit of a vinous air to it, as well. Flavor is very good as well... the first sip was a bit rough, but after that initial shock, things got downright nice. There is a black cherry flavor that lingers around that I haven’t seen before, but is darn nice. A couple of small issues that I have are that it comes off as a bit watery at a couple of points as it blossoms across the palate and the finish is a little bit rough.

THishas traditional written all over it. Lots of dark fruits let down by a thin body. This would be pretty good amped up a notch or two