OHanlons Royal Oak

Brewed by OHanlons
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Whimple, England

Bottle, 500ml. A clear dark amber colour with a small head. Good aromas of malt and plum. Taste is roasted malts, caramel, plum, peach and a little hoppiness. Moderate carbonation. A sweet, slightly acidic, lightly bitter finish. This is quite tasty.

Not as rich as i would have liked. Aroma gives berry fruits, lightly toffee malts and floural hops. Taste is similar with not as much sweetness off the malts as i would have liked.

Pours coppery-amber colored with light carbonation visible through a honey-haze. A HUGE, khaki head took a long time to settle. Musty aroma of roasty pralines with an undertow of lemony, grassy hops. Sweet, candied, nutty flavor with a soft yet syrupy thickness. Artificial fruitiness of cherries and lemons chimes in. Over the course of the beer, I could not decide whether or not I liked it, but it turns out that I found it rather cloying and thought the flavors didn’t mesh.

<font size=-4>Puchased at <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/indiana/highlan Liquor Stop, Highland, IN 46322<font size=-1>

Bottle. Clear orange color with a off white head. Aroma of malts, caramel, fruits and hops. Sweet flavour of malts, caramel, fruits and hops. Hoppy finish.

Bottle, picked up at the Dodgy Deli’, Cowley Rd, Oxford, 15-09-06. Reddy amber coloured beer which has a slight haze despite my best efforts at pouring and was very lively as though it couldn’t wait to get out of the bottle, with the off-white coloured head going everywhere but in the glass. Definate fruity aroma but mores so of rich dried fruits, malty and bitter in the taste and whilst it was enjoyable enough not really my thing.

Royal Oak Pale Ale, brewed in Devon, full of legends and Parliaments, and kings, Cromwell’s Roundheads, grilled meat and cheeseboard. Opaque, dark amber hue, maybe maroon?, highly carbonated, with a big fizzy head that drizzles down quick. Big cherry aroma, rich and malty, nice hops, rather mild, though. Sweet and serene. Nice. Remains sweet and tasty on the tongue. Decent hops, not too large, but a neat, if mild little firedance in the mouth. Continues bitter and sweet throughout. Cherry flavor dominates. Nice, but... Not one I’ll return to, unless I get filthy rich sometime soon. Quite different from other british pale ales, perhaps overly carbonated, a little too much for my taste. Just not loving it. MEh.

Bouteille de 500 ml obtenue via Importations Privées Bièropholie. Arôme: Odeur boisé et de caramel. Apparence: La couleur est ambrée voilée avec une forte densité de bulle. Présence d’un énorme col mousseux beige sculpté et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de noix et de cassonade. Durée moyenne de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture crémeuse. Forte effervescence en bouche. Présence de noix pétillante en arrière goût. (Rating #598)

Pours with a lightly hazy, darkish, ruby amber color. The head is topped by an amber-tinged, tan colored head that leaves a bit of lace as it falls back into the main beer. As I pour this beer an deep fruity note is immediately noticeable; a sort of cross between red grapes, raisins and sweet plums. As I go in for a deep smell, an immediate tart note is noticeable. It is a bit like tamarind, and definitely reminds me of a sour plum.

The beer is quite well carbonated, at least much more than I was expecting. There is still a touch of sweetness here though, it accentuates a caramel like note that in turn accentuates a raisin, sweet plum and even apple like fruitiness. A touch of hop bitterness is found throughout this beer, it adds a bit of tingle to the throat, which competes a bit with the tart flavors. There are other hop flavors here as well; lightly grass, a bit herbal, and even a touch of fruit character (a hint of citrus, and even some currant like berry notes perhaps).

This is on the verge of being quite tasty, I can’t tell if the tartness is just a product of the yeast (sort of doubtful), or is a low grade bacterial infection. Either way it is still quite drinkable, I easily finished this bottle of, perhaps slightly infected, brew.

<font size=-4>Purchased: <a href=http://www.58degrees.com/>58 Degrees & Holding Co., Tucson, AZ<font size=-1>