McMullen Original AK

Brewed by McMullen
Style: Bitter
Hertford,, England

Cask at Spice of Life, Cambridge Circus. Chestnut colour with thin off white head. Not a huge amount of aroma. OK hop/malt mix in mouth. Finish is slightly dry. Average bitter

Hand pulled at the Nags Head, Covent Garden. Slightly darker than the Country Best, with a slimmer head. More syruppy in the mouth, and thiner and sweeter. Has a caramel/butterscotch quality. I can’t escape the feeling that this is an average product - lacks bite, conviction or engagement n the mouth.

Cask. Strange beast. Despite claims that this is a mild it’s a fairly ordinary session bitter in the Welsh style of soft hops. Refreshing and drinkable with a crisp malt just sweetened enough to prevent the beer from being too dry.

(cask at Nag’s Head, London) Crystal clear amber body with a firm off-white head. Aroma is medium sweet, floral, grassy, herbal, some caramel. Taste is medium sweet, caramel, floral, grassy, light herbal. Watery light body, easy drinking.

[Cask at GBBF 2004] A light brown beer with a fine head. The aroma is sweet malty with notes of caramel. The flavor is sweet with notes of caramel and straw, leading to a dry end.

[cask in London] Clear brown with a touch of orange and a nice flanel, off-white covering that provides nice lacing. Gentle aroma of mostly english, floral hops and well balanced caramel malt. Though the aroma is well balanced, it is quite weak overall. The flavour seems a bit salty at first with suble english hops flavour right away, succeeded by some toasty malt that’s still pretty sweet and has some caramel characteristics to it. The tangy sweet finish of this beer leaves you waiting for some bitterness that never comes. Mouth-filling yet thin (weird). Watery. Good session beer--I would have this again. Low carbonation.

Cask at Beehive Hare Street. This is a light mild. A good session beer but a bit bland. Probably not at its best.

Sept, 2002:The Millstream, Hitchin, Herts. McMullens is a long established family brewery in Hertfordshire which earlier this year (2002) was up for sale. AK is a rare example of a light coloured mild ale specially brewed for the summer months, which earned itself a Camra award a few years ago. The name itself is a mystery, dating back as it does to 1832; though there were a few other ales around at that time with the same name, and the most likely explanation is that the A signifies the palest colour of a K strength (weak) beer. The beer certainly comes across as weak, though that is not in itself a bad thing. It is the flavour that is important, and it was here that I felt it let me down. The first taste was surprisingly sweet, yet balanced by an interesting sharpness so the overall impression was one of a low strength cider. The colour is a very pale gold, again reminiscent of cider or lager. The sweetness soon goes away, leaving mostly a dry, light sharpness which is very refreshing. The finish is very quick. The beer seems to achieve what it sets out to do: provide a thin, refreshing summer drink; but it does it in a way that is perhaps less than memorable or outstanding. [2.7]
July, 2003: The Millstream, Hitchin, Herts. McMullen changed the name to AK Original Bitter because Mild was going out of fashion - and now, of course, Mild is becoming fashionable again. They have also changed the recipe slightly so that it appears darker - more like a bitter in appearance - and a lot of the citric notes have vanished. The taste is still soft and low hopped, and this is an easy drinking session ale, but it now has no character at all. For those searching for the famed Original AK - it has gone. [2.5]