Ridgeway Bitter

Brewed by Hepworth
Style: Bitter
Horsham, England

A very tasty ale. It pours an orange body with brown highlights, replete with steady beading and a dense, lofty off-white head that laces in large clumps. (Belgian clumping?) The nose is toffee with light fruits (apple, orange, pear) and a floral/herbal hopping. Very smooth. Nice balance of soft caramel-toffee malts, fruits, and a mild hop bitterness. It finishes on a sweet fruity note with a hoppy bitterness around the edges. Excellent session material here.

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500ml bottle...Frothes out the bottle upon uncapping...pours w/ a generous white head that fades leaving some lace. Bronzen color. Potent aroma of fresh, resinous hops that also shows off some fruitiness (orange, pear) and floral (perfumey) qualities. Impressive aroma. Body is a bit watery, but the flavor is there. A nice mellow malt background is dominated by resinous & fruity hops. The wateriness doesn’t seem as pronounced as I continue to drink. Quite a nice session beer, but too expensive to really be one for me @ $4.49/pint off-sale price...I’d hope in its home it is more affordable.

Bottle conditioned, it poured with a good white head. Colour was light amber, the aroma flowery and hoppy with a background maltiness. The sweetness of the taste is followed by a citric sourness and a slight bitterness at the close. Run-of-the-mill glugger, nice session beer

I Love this Beer! If it weren’t $4.50 for a 500ml bottle I would make this my daily drinker!

Man, I shouldn’t have read Ernest review right below mine! I freaking agree with most everything he said and I think he said it better than I would have! –BASTARD!

Glowing copper body with a whispy ivory hued head. The aroma is flowery yet the musty. The flavor hints of old well worn leather, grandma’s farmhouse biscuits, a hint of green apple, lemon grass, and a substantial wild note of English hops…. This beer just seems to embody what I dream the most traditional of English Bitters to be.

Head is initially small, frothy, off-white, mostly lasting. Body is hazy light amber, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately hoppy (orange, apricot, flowers), lightly yeasty (barnyard, horseblanket), lightly malty (toasted grain, cookie). Flavor is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Light to medium body, watery texture, lively carbonation. Surprisingly good quaffer with some similarity to Orval in the nose...wild yeast character and somewhat similar hops.

2009-04-23, cask conditioned at Bishop’s Arms, Malmö, 5-3-6-3-12=29
Hazy amber color. Metallic aroma. Sweetish toffee flavor, good bitterness level, but also with a light metallic touch.

2005-10-27, bottle, 5-2-5-3-11=26
Golden color. Strange aroma, honey and paper.Thin body, metallic, quite bitter but not a Bitter; lemony finish. Odd.

Cask at Mahars. Nice sour flavor with this one. Dark color, head was gone fast. Surprising sour flavor that was very pleasant and easy to drink, good stuff.

[on cask at Spuyten Duyvil] Hazy copper with nice white suds that last and form nice lacing. Aroma: a fresh blend of hops--perhaps british and US--but still kind of weak with no malt character. Biscuity malt with gentle hops up front (bitterness and flavour) with subtle malt in good balance with the hops characteristics. Very fresh tasting. The thing about this beer I didn’t like was how mild it was. Light to medium body with very low carbonation and a clean finish.