OHanlons Royal Oak

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

500 ml, bb 07-18-06! Cloudy chestnut color with a huge spewing-out-of-the bottle head that is sticky and lasts forever. Aroma is earthy-spicy with some cooked sweet apples. Flavor is earthy pumpkin with root spices, maybe some Belgian horse blanket, and sweet-’n-sour apples and grapes. The palate is smooth, light-medium bodied, and a little watery. This one was obviously past its prime, but I enjoyed it.

Half pint pulled at the Great British Beer Festival, light brown with thin head. Strong malt in the aroma. Smooth with a bitter finish.

Bottled: Clouded orangey amber apearance, decent head formation. Strong sweet berry, raisin fruit aroma, hoppy and yeasty. Dry hoppy, yeasty palate, notes of toffee albeit a little understated. Interesting blend but slightly harsh, never really shines, .

Purchased today at Sam’s Wines, Downers Grove; "Best by 02/28/05." Okay, Sam’s definitely has a problem keeping their shelves updated. But it was in the bargain tent at a dollar off, and I just couldn’t resist.

Pours a big load of tannish-brown foam into a pint glass. Very cloudy, coppery beer beneath it. Smell shows a lot of malt that has aged out and is a bit medicinal, but that’s to be expected. And yet, there’s still some fine English hop bitterness to be found here. A bit of iodide, true, but also some prune and raisin. I knew this might have problems going in, but it’s still pretty drinkable.

Poured a nice dark amber color. Aromas of caramel, fruit, and spice. Flavor is medium sweet with a nice hop bite.

Nice frothy and ricly head. Great lacing with decent carbonation. Nice aromatic bitterness. Little bit of citrus to go along with the big helping of hops. Some malt also. Color is a slightly cloudy dark copper. Slightly roasty flavor and pretty well balanced. More malt than hops in the flavor. Slight metallic flavor with some mellow caramel. Finish is slightly dry a a little bitter. The hops seem to disappear once you get past the aroma. Still, a decent bitter.

Pours a hazy dark orange-red with a thin off white cover. A nice fruity caramel aroma, citrus orange and an woodiness. Taste if unfortunately thinner, light caramel, a nuttiness, and more grapefruit fruity hops.

Cloudy amber color, frothy beige head, with some flaky sediment swirling, the nose has a fruity note of old apples, with caramelized malt, toasted grains, brown sugar, flowery hops accent in the aroma follows through on a medium-bodied palate with a fruity floral hops character, crystal malt, leading towards a faint hop bitterness impression in the finish.