Ushers Founders Ale (Bottled)

Brewed by Thomas Hardy (Burtonwood)
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Burtonwood, England

A Mes rate: Bottle from god knows where. Red amber colour with a pillowy off white head that settles all too quickly. Aroma of sugar and sweaty feet. Flavour of burnt malt and caramel. Ok it’s better than that there are nice hops and malt and underneath it’s pretty well balanced but this is one of those brews that is killed by the pasturisation. Big shame.

Big light brown head. Deep red-brown head. Softly wooden metallic aroma of malts with a dark fruity background and notes of tea. Dry tea and malts taste with metallic smoky notes. Slightly thin-bodied. Dry powdery metallic aftertaste. Nice, but not major. (0.5l bottle from Systembolaget, Stockholm.)

Appearance: amber mahogany color. Medium head and persistency, ivory color. Flavor: toasty barleys, nutty, candy and intensive hoppy (goldings). Fruity like peach, pink grapefruits and ripe red apple. Light aniseed touch and some liquory similar to whisky. Flavor: sweet start of grains, very nice nutty and candy. Intensive dryness and floral hoppy finish. Sweet-fruitiness of almonds, tangerines and nuts; dry-fruitiness of stone peach and grapefruits. Some liquory. Palate: light to medium body, silky texture. Light to medium carbonation. Not complex, persistent dryness, nice nutty, good balanced.

Bottle 50cl. Poured a dark copper, quite carbonated, with a decent off white head. Slightly sweet caramel/toffee aroma complements hoppiness. Strong malty flavour, hints of toffee apple. Quite woody. Lasting bitter finish. Medium body. Tasty bitter, though perhaps a little too much sourness in the aftertaste.

Bottle. Dark brown beer with a strongish head. The aroma is deeply caramel and quite dry, the flavour is toffee and fudge with a very bitter finish. Overall a reasonable beer.

500ml bottle from Sainsburys. Pours amber with a firm off-white head that leaves good lacing on the glass. Strongly carbonated. Excellent toffee malt aroma. Flavour starts malty but moves to a lingering bitter finish. Not bad but could do with being a little less carbonated and a little more complex.

Copper coloured with a firm, near white head. Aroma was toffeeish. Flavour was similarly of sweet caramel with a redeeming dry finish. Ok.

Amber with an off white head. Marmalade malt aroma, very sweet. Taste is toasty malt with a bit of fruitiness. slightly peachy perhaps. Gentle bitterness but aggressively carbonated.