Oakham Bishops Farewell

Brewed by Oakham
Style: Golden Ale/Blond Ale
Peterborough, England

On gravity at the London Drinker festival 12/3/08. Aroma of grapefruit, lycees and sweet malt with a slight whiff of sulphur. Sweet flavour with a big citrus hop finish. Good.

Cask @ London Drinker Fest, 2008. Aroma of syrup, hops, minerals, malt and cream and tropical notes. Golden beer with a small white head. Hoppy, very sweet followed by a bitter/sweet flourish. Brilliant.

Cask at the King William IV, Sneinton, Nottingham. This slightly hazy pale golden beer with a fruity hop aroma has a refreshingly dry, tart citrus hop flavour. It’s more full-bodied than JHB but perhaps not as tasty. Still very good indeed.

A firkin of this was imported for the use of DEK’s American of Rocky Point, NY last night and it was very popular with a mixed beer crowd who had never tasted it. The darkly golden ale had a constant lacing that never disappeared to the end of every pint. The smooth light to medium flavors of bread and malts in the first taste were toasted valiantly by the delayed snap of citrus edged hops. Taste after taste, the even texture stayed true and reminded me of a lightly maltier version of the esteemed local Sixpoint Bengal Tiger IPA. I even arranged for an tasting of this cask alongside the great Fuller’s ESB and the differences were very strong, but delicious in every way.

Cask at dba. Very pale straw colour with a sticky white head. Aroma is quite spicy with lots of fresh goldings aroma. Light lemon/orange citrus as well. Spicy/pithy UK hoppiness with a light cattiness to it as well. Flavour is of fresh crackery pale malts and a soft minerally bitterness. Light spicy finish. Sort of a bitter/golden ale hybrid. Nice to see these real cask ales on this side of the pond though.

(Cask at Bree Louise, Euston, London, 1 Dec 2007) Golden yellow colour with big, frothy, white head. Fruity, floral nose with lemon and fresh, grassy hops . Fruity taste with notes of citrus (lemon) and decent amounts of grassy, citrussy hops in the finish. Fairly light body, but with a nice citrussy, hop character.

Yellow with a small but lasting white head. Lemon and peach aroma with a hint of pine. Semi-sweet and fruity flavour with a hoppy finish.

Clear, dull golden coloured ale with a small, but lasting white film. Quite grassy, sharp and pointy hoppy nose with a sandy, almost earthy and hugely leafy aromatic profile. Those same hops gives a clashing bitterness on the tongue and the palate is very dry. Long astringent finish. Malts are quite overtaken, simply felt through their soft breadiness and touch of biscuitiness. Perhaps a bit too rough, but the English themselves dig it and I’m a North American, so I might as well join the boat and savour the difference that this ale offers in a wave of a few hundred similar bitters and golden ales over a month. Still, I think I prefer their JHB.