Ridgeway Reindeers Revolt

Brewed by Hepworth
Style: English Strong Ale
Horsham, England

Orangy/flowery aroma that’s strangely also slightly smokey. Dry and hoppy, grainy flavor. Good but some points off for kinda tasting like a lead pipe. Freshness issues? or is it just this beer, or is it just english ales in general?

Bottle. Poured the same boring color most of their other brews did, same two finger white head, too. Smells like vomit tastes. Tastes okay, maybe medium to light bodied beer. Not worth revisiting. Leave this to housewives buying this for their respective husbands come Christmas time.

From 500 ml bottle this poured a very clear amber with large off-white head and good lacing rings. Nose of caramel malts, and hint of citrus. Medium body. Slightly sour flavor with some fruit. Finish is a bit sweet.

Clear amber, solid cream coloured head, good retention with early lace. Nutty, caramel malt, moderately hoppy (woody, citrus peel), moderately bitter finish. Pretty straightforward, but no complaints.

pours with a magnifico head, lacing is supreme ... smell of sweet maple syrup malt ... damn smooth . . . dark tan orange .. pretty nice simple english ale .. it ain’t the bee’s knee’s!!

Sampled as part of a gift pack. Poured with a nice light brown hue and a thin lacey head. GOes down smooth. The malts slightly harsh and have a nice after taste. Served cold, maybe would have been better warm.

16.9oz bottle - Pours copper colored with a big frothy head. It has a mild aroma mainly of English hops with some bready malt in there. The flavor is similar to a bitter and the hops are well balanced by pale biscuit malt tones. It’s medium bodied and finishes kind of dry. I rather enjoyed this one though it is a little overpriced for what it is.

This is another disappointing Ridgeway winter beer (unfortunate since I love their Ridgeway Bitter). It looks good, a deep, clear red copper with a light tan, dense, thick head that only slowly shrinks to a dense, permanent 1/4 inch head that leaves a little weak lacing. The aroma is mostly malt, crackers, yeasty wheat bread, with hints of nuts, earth, and pine- very English and very nice. The taste, though, really is lacking. It is mostly alcholic with a thin, weak malty element, followed at first by rather acrid, bitter hops with the taste of stale bitter leaves and nothing else, finished with a pretty good, persistent biscuit quality. As it warms, the acrid quality decreases and the beer becomes more smooth, but despite this and the good, persistent toasty biscuit flavour, it is consistently too bland and too alcoholic. There is too little malt or hop flavour to compensate for the alcohol quality or the acrid bitterness. It’s ok and drinkable, but not worth it, despite its good aroma and looks.