Cask@St Albans BF. Some appley fruit, grainy malt, slightly orangey hops in the finish, decent bitter.

A Mes rate: Cask at a JDW somewhere. Almost very good but there is an awful metalic overtone that hangs around like a bad smell. Nose is actually pretty good. Delicate spice and some vanilla and just a dab of tobacco. Copper colour. Reasonably hoppy and malty and that is pretty much it really. Slight sweetness and some berries. Not the most complex of beers. Looking at the rest of the rates and no one mentioning the strong metal that I noted, then I think there may have been something wrong with my sample. I ended up feeling like i had bitten my lip and I had blood in my mouth.

A darkish coloured bitter with a red tinge. Cloudy. I didn’t get much in the aroma department. What there was was mainly fruity malt. The flavour was also dominated by dry malt, with berry fruit and nuts. I found it a bit short of bitter hop presence for my taste. Dry finish. Perfectly drinkable, but I didn’t find it too exciting. Cask (gravity dispense) at St Albans Beer Festival.

Cask Conditioned at Oxford Beer Festival 04. Amber coloured bitter with healthy head. Dry but still fruity bitter with a restrained hop note. Nicely balanced but still lacking an impact. A penny from each pint of this goes to Red Squirrel conservation, hopefully the animals not the brewery.

Cask, Derby Winter Fest 06. Brown and red with a bubbly head. Aromas are malty with chocolate and berries has a decent level of hopping. Flavours are properly malty with berries. Sweet and fruity with a slight sourness on the finish. Decent.