Marstons Old Empire (Bottle)

Brewed by Marstons (Marstons plc)
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Burton-on-Trent, England

Bottle, dark gold orange colour with white head. Very drinkable, I liked it. Nice balance of bitterness, fruitiness and hops. Nice.

500ml clear bottle. Deep gold colour, fluffy and creamy white cap with decent retention. Aroma is malty, soft perfumy/citrusy sweet hop notes. Flavour of fruity malt, citrus/orange notes. Moderate bitterness with some hop aftertaste. Medium bodied, creamy in the mouth, light carboantion. Good drinkability. A lot better than I was expecting, especially coming from a clear bottle.

Clear glass bottle. A clear dark golden beer with a medium sized disappearing white head. The aroma is not powerful, with a light/medium maltiness and hoppiness and notes of caramel and grass. The flavour begins sweet with the malt and ends quite bitter with the hops. Light metallic note. Medium body, average/lively carbonation, short/medium dry finish with almost medium bitetrness. A decent pint.

Appearance: Golden, little head. Aroma: Fruity, citric, not malty. Taste: Fruity, tingling. Hopsy. Info: 500ml bottle, 12/9-2005, 10/300

There was a time in the 1980s when I thought Marstons represented all that was good and wonderful about brewing. These days, that notion seems as old as the British Empire itself. This "IPA" has all the flaws you would expect of a pasteurised bitter bottled in clear glass, but it’s a lot better than I expected. Appearance: silty caramel-orange with plenty of spent yeast suspended under a dismal head. Aroma: skunked, thanks to the clear bottle and poor storage. The usual pasteurised boiled lolly sweet notes and some bready malts. Also some Orangina fruitiness. Overall, lacking in zest and freshness. Palate: thin to medium. Flavour: initial hit of butterscotch diacetyl, followed by muddy tropical fruit flavours - passionfruit, limes, etc. Gentle heat in a bone-dry finish, thanks to the 5.7% abv. Has some of that chewy mid-palate that I used to enjoy so much in draught Pedigree. Overall: above-average for a pasteurised British bottled ale, but the benchmark is low. (500ml clear bottle from Camperdown Cellars eons ago. No best-by date on bottle)

This orange beer has a typical floral aroma and a pleasing fruity quality in the flavour. However, it’s got that unpleasant sulphurous flavour so typical of Marston’s beers. It’s better than Pedigree but not much good as an IPA.

50 cL clear bottle. Pours clear and golden orange with a dense and slight off-white head. Dry malt aroma with a whiff of hops. Flavour is medium dry malt with a light hops spice note and bitterness. Light fruity note lurking through. Ends with a decent bitterness and light spice note.

Small white head does not last. Brownish body. Sweet caramelly nutty aroma with malty straw notes. Faintly perfumy. Dry-sweet nutty caramelly malt taste with metallic floral notes. Dry crisp edge to it. Dry grass and straw hop aftertaste. Very nice. (0.5l bottle, Systembolaget, Charlottenberg.)