Shepherd Neame Goldings (Bottle)

Brewed by Shepherd Neame
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Faversham, England

Bottle LCBO. Nice copper pour, frothy attractive white head, looks great. Aroma - whoa, smelled that as soon as I cracked the bottle, but thought I would let it sit - this is pure clear bottle skunk, good idea on the bottle guys. Below the skunk, there seems to be a nice earthy hoppiness. Taste is a lot of skunk at first, but then gives way to a very pleasant bitter and malt taste. Man, this seems like it would be a really solid refreshing summer beer, but I’m not going to gamble and try and get a non-light struck bottle. OK.

Very nice deep golden copper ale. Some really nice hop bitterness with a slight citrussy flavour as well. Dry finish. Refreshing and complex without being extreme.

En bouteille. Belle couleur dorée, bon collet qui dure. Arome d’houblon simple, mais par après il était plus floral. Bon goût d’houblon légé et rafréchissant pour la journée chaude quand je l’ai bu.

Clear 500ml (pasturized) bottle pours a light copper-amber ale in my pint glass. Sticky 1 finger cap lasts well and laces the glass. Aroma is pungent perfumey floral peach-like hops over a solid biscuit malt grainyness. Solid malt spine, medium-light body,.... sticky, mineral mouth feel, rounded mellow fruity character. Up front you get modest sweetness which turns to a definate buscuit maltiness, this becomes balanced midway with the hop mixture which creates a wonderful peach-grapefuit decernment that compliments the detectable fruity phenols of the ale yeast and rides just above the sweet biscuit maltiness....giving balance and a light fruity-hoppy bias. The Finsh is long and slowly bittering as the biscuit malt is slowly overtaken by light ( not unpleasant) metallic bittering. Light, peach-lile hopiness, biscuity, satisfying, mellow and drinkable. I’m not usually a fan of the English mild or light bitter ales but, as they go, this is one of the tastiest ones I’ve ever sampled with a rounded mellow quality....this tastes like it was conditioned long enough to remove the sharp edges short cycle ales are prone to....gives it great drinkability and makes it a good choice for a session ale.

2qes My cat says "2qes" perhaps I should 2qes.... First off it is nice to see our LCBO in Ontario has a new product from Shepherd Neame. Anyways enough of the local banter... Medium Golden bodied with light white head.. frothy and pillowy but it disipates. Very light aroma however ther was slight hint of hops quite mellowing. Light amount of skunk.... should I blame clear bottles.. I don’t know. Shepherd’s Neh it should say. Anywhoo I drank it and want to terribly satisfied or unsatisfied.. blah blah blah..

Bottle from the LCBO. Fairly flat aroma with only a whiff of the hops coming through. I certainly didn’t get a sense of the floral and scented aroma as their commercial description suggests. Appearance was expected...no surprises...nice and clear pale. I found the overall flavour lacking and that skunkiness is too noticeable to not affect the rating.

Nice rich amber color. Hops and bready malt aroma. Slightly woody. Clean and bitter finish. Not bad at all.

LCBO bottle purchase-Pours tan liquid beneath a thick and foamy white froth. Solid spiderweb lace. Aromas are fresh green leafy hops, dandylions, and bready malt, but it is slightly skunked. Tsk tsk Shepherd Neame, no clear bottles please. Taste is nice mild hops and bitterness with some honey and bread. Nice hoppy lingering aftertaste, smooth finish. Medium bodied.