Shepherd Neame Christmas Ale 2007

Bottle. Red amber colour with a small white head. Aroma and flavour of hops, malt and fruit.

Bottled. A chestnut coloured beer with a little beige head. The aroma has plums and raisins but there are clear notes of pasteurisation. Some licquorice and wood in the taste together with fruits. It’s ok.

(Old notes done at the end of 2007) Brownish amber colour. Clear. Small head. Malts and some spiciness in nose and taste. Tastes like a beer from Shepherd Neame does.

bought in lucerne switzerland in the drinks of the world shop at railwaystation reddish glowing copper with a rather quickly dissapearing head smells malty and hoppy and some dried fruit tasts malty hoppy and fruity and some caramel aftertaste has some good bitterness but fruityness too i like it a beerwho has both in it fruityness

Amber –gold beer, with little head. Ureum (dry hops), liquorice in the nose. Sweet beer, with cookies’ flavour, and a wee bit of oxidation to boot on the sweetness. A little cakey warming up. Not very robust MF. Too sweet, too much old malts.

Amber colout with small white head.Aroma of caramel and malt,feels a little weak and mild spicey with smooth mouth feels and soft finish.

Well, it is October 20th. 2008 version from Lidl with the same label, ABV, description etc as 2007. Bright shining red ringed with beige. Jellied strawberry fruit aroma as commercially described, overlaid with sensible musty tea-like hedgerow hoppy notes. Brings to mind Flying Saucers- simultaneously papery and (a bit) sherbety. Instantly recognisable as a SN clear-bottled pasteurised effort. Stale cardboardy cooked notes to the fore, redeemed by...well, cherryish alcohol, berry fruit, cinnamon. Some chalky apple traces have survived The Boil. Thought this was just gonna be another tedious dead bottled bitter from Shep Neame, and it is. But a good one.

An unusually hoppy Christmas ale out of Kent. Not sure the high sugar content and herbal finish pair that well but it’s very easy seasonal drinking. A coppery cove with a shallow head. Sugary-sweet aroma of sugarcane, crystal malt, that pasteurised boiled lolly residue and a sprinkle of white pepper. Medium body, moderate carbonation - the overall effect is almost syrupy. A very smooth concoction with the alcohol well concealed until the warming, spicy finish that you’d expect in a Christmas ale. Sticky dates, figs and oxidised sherry notes. Quite herbal in the swallow and unusually bitter for the style. Challenger hops? Goldings? An interesting ale but not a total success IMO. (500ml bottle from Camperdown Cellars.)