Ridgeway Criminally Bad Elf

Brewed by Hepworth
Style: Barley Wine
Horsham, England

50cl bottle. Poured a clear translucent medium orange with a dusting and a very loose ring of white bubbles. The aroma picked up an interesting assortment of lighter fruits (pears, sliced pineapple, and starfruit come to mind) along with peppery alcohol and some grassy notes. The flavor department was criminally sweet, with a mess of toffee, caramel, the aforementioned fruits, and plenty of alcoholly sugars... metallic and medicinal notes stuck to the underside of the edges of the tongue... the fruits return for some decent flavor at the finish... moderate grassy bitterness. Sharp, too sweet, and unbalanced on the palate.. medium-bodied with a watery intro. This wasn’t a criminally bad beer, but it was nowhere near a good one.

Screw the 3.12 RB average, this is delish, almost criminally good, though not quite there. It is an English-style BW, which puts this at the level of an American ESB. Very sweet, much more sweet than possibly bitter. It does resemble liquid sugar, dunnit. Makes it dangerously drinkable at 10% ABV. The explanation for the criiminally low 3.12 RB average is that it’s too sweet for a typical beer, and doesn’t exactly present as a Barley Wine in the usual sense. Body is too thin by that standard, and it’s not especially balanced. But this rater found it criminally drinkable in light of its near-average beer qualities..

2006 bottle consumed (partially) on 2/3/07.
Initially small, off-white head recedes quickly to nothing. Liquid looks still, slightly glassy and quite viscous. A soft amber-auburn color with strawberry highlights and some darker, light-browns. No lacing, nothing (and the bottle is fresh too...)
Phew, they (the Shelton Bros.) certainly missed the boat on this one. Fiery fusels and sharp esters strike at the nose, as a heavy apple and caramel/toffee note seem to make up the backend of the aroma. DMS too? Perhaps. A very slight roasted/smoked edge almost, though more likely it’s just medicinal phenolics. Sweet vanilla and cherry emerge with warming, but the alcohol persists. Cough medicine, anyone?
Undercarbonated, filtered (regardless of the bottle conditioning) body never stood a chance against the sickly sweet adjunct-like sugars, impossibly disruptive alcohol, corn and vanilla notes (probably DMS too) and medicinal, spicy phenols. Tastes like phenolic cough syrup with some alcohol spiciness. Light cocoa, buttercream, toffee and sweet cherry notes cloy in the end. And where is all this obnoxious acidity coming from??? Seems like they were almost trying to make a bad beer.....Couldnt do much more than a few sips.

Light Amber Coloring with White Ring. Sweet, Lightly Fruity and Herbal/Grassy on the Nose. Mildly Syrapy...Initial and Most Dominant Hit of Astringent Alcohol...After You Think You Can No Longer Keep it in Your Mouth, It Departs...Ending with Something Much Nicer and Wished for in the Overall Experience...Rich Maltiness..Light Burnt Notes, Caramel, Dark Fruits, Orange, Just a Pinch of Rye..and a Much More Sutble Warming. To Each His/Her Own.

So this is the new "baddest" elf. I thought "Seriously Bad Elf" was somewhat underrated, so I had a few fleeting hopes for this particular entry. Poured a clear amber with a small semi-creamy white head. Nice aroma of alcohol, strawberries, honey, and wheat. Flavor is very dry with notes of dishwater, grassy hops, some indistinguishable fruits, and of course, alcohol, leading to a long and dry bitter, yeasty finish. Body is average for the style. Overall, definitely on the same continuum of the Bad Elf series, but for me the series has come full circle from novelty to something decent to back to novelty again. What’s next? "Heaven Doesn’t Want Him and Hell Is Afraid He’ll Take Over Elf"? With 15% alcohol ABV and flavor that tastes like an astringent metallic alcoholic mess? You know what the real crime is in all of this? I’d probably end up buying that.

pours a caramel color with a small white head aroma of malt & english hops taste of raisins and winter spices finishes reasonably clean

Pours a dark orange with a small white head . Aroma of fruits and vanilla. Alchohol very apparent. A decent barley wine.

bronze color, clear, thin beige head. nose if of brown sugar and citrus. flavor is tongue-numbing with a little alcohol burn. Of these elves, I think the original bad elf might be my favorite.