Shepherd Neame Goldings (Bottle)

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

Bottled. A clear light amber coloured beer with a rocky white head. The aroma has floral hoppy notes with boiled sweets. The taste has more floral hops. Orange fruits hint at fresh flavours, but then a cardboardy pasteurized feel and a real thin watery aftertaste dominate. Early signs of promise are a bit of a tease as the real overriding memory is of a sad dead beer.

No, no, no. At first impression, this has the metallic, beany, nutty cardboard vegetable off-flavours of a n/a beer.A promising aroma of gentle strawberryish hop politeness, cork and caramel fading into nothing. Vague sherbety paper fruit flavours. (Flying saucers?). Well-conditioned with an almost pleasant cardboard biscuit/ paracetemol aftertaste. Boiled-to-death, drab and inexcusable. Probably a really decent beer in cask form.

Medium light beige fine-laced head. Amber body with light carbonation. Faint sweetish fruity roasty nutty aroma with light toffee notes. Not much Goldings there. Dry and delicately sweetish roasty golden taste with strong nutty notes and a caramelly background. Harmonic and balanced. Also faintly watery. Body is medium to thin. Dry nutty, metallic aftertaste with roasty notes. This is clearly meant to be a summer ale, as it doesn’t have that much taste, but it definitely has some character. Good! (0.5l bottle from Systembolaget, Stockholm.)

Frothy bubbly head over an amber-golden body. Fresh summer smell of citrus and honey. Lightly caramel start giving way to a floral and rounded hoppy taste with bitter ending (shared with CinnamonGirl and Magne, Sommarøya 17.08.2007).

Golden to light amber color. The aroma is malty, ordinary, with some white sugar and the hop comes out with some effort. The mouthfeel is thin, and metallic too, with light malt flavor, a quite strong bitterness, lightly aromatic. The final is dry and long. Average.

It’s a very beautiful amber colored beer with a huge head. The aroma has notes of fruit and caramel and the flavour is light and refreshing with a light sweetness, light notes of fruit and caramel and a bitterness that begins rather weak, but it does grow in the finish, never getting strong, though. It’s a harmonic and charming summer brew.

Bottle 500ml. Pours a burnt amber with a small white head. Some floral notes, citrus and hops to the aroma. Helen, my partner, says it smells of Summer! Some sweetness at first taste and then overtaken by a bitterness. Slightly gassy. Quite thin, with a dry crisp finish. A drinkable brew for the Summer but nothing special.

Floral, slightly grassy nose. Pours medium copper with a persistant head. Flavour is gently hoppy with some passionfruit and peach. Mouthfeel is a bit watery. Longish bitter finish.