Woodfordes Nelsons Revenge

Brewed by Woodfordes
Style: Bitter
Broadland Brewery
Woodbastwick, England

Handpump At The Cricketers,Ipswich.My first Woodfordes on cask,and it was worth the wait,a great fruity hoppy bitter.Rerate as Norfolk Bitter,Bottle.

Cask at Bon Accord. Very fine bitter, lots of body, gorgeous fruity hop aroma, long bitter finish. A cracker.

Part of the pleasure yet also the frustration of British beers has been their limited availability. By overturning the retrictive practises of the tied houses by allowing pubs to stock guest ales the government allowed the small breweries to flourish and gave people a chance to sample beers from around the country without leaving their home town. But still, great breweries like Woodforde's are unknown to most people in Britain, let alone the rest of the world. Putting beers in bottles has not been the strength of British brewers. And, even with growing knowledge of how to condition beers for the bottle, the flavour of an oak cask conditioned bitter is impossible to reproduce in the largely sterile conditions of a glass bottle. Woodforde's have done very well with this Nelson's Revenge. It tastes crisp, fresh, and has, albeit quite muted, a natural life that hints in the direction of a reasonably well kept cask beer. The nose is fruity with some musty yeast. The initial taste is surprisingly dry, then the fruit juices come through - firstly fat, healthy sultanas, then a graduated range of mostly citric fruits, moving through orange, grapefruit to a quite zesty lemon, finishing slightly sweeter with a touch of apple. The finish is again dry with a suggestion of aromatic hops. I love Bitter and this is, to date, the finest Bitter I have encountered in a bottle! [4.0]
Re-rate. Fresh, W/Spoon's, Rochester. Wow! This is sublime on cask. A fully ribbed tangy rub down. Flowery, perfumed hops so intense the oil just runs down your chin. Like eating tree bark mixed with hop flowers fresh from the gardens of Kent. O wow! Awesome.

Bottle Conditioned. A yellow amber ber with short lasting head. This is a clean, crisp tangy bitter with a full malty, biscuity background and a rounded though tangy citric hop foreground. Bitter to the end, the only pity is that it is in a 330 ml bottle. A lovely refreshing bitter and I'm going back to the brewery soon to get some more!!

Cask, gravity flow @ the Fur & Feather Inn, Woodbastwick, Norfolk.
Upon ordering this one I was queried by a lovely bloke at the bar. Happened to be the head brewer of Woodforde’s, Dr. David Crease. He was wondering if I’d enjoyed the beers I had tasted. "F’ckin’ oath" I would have liked to have replied, had I been a nonce. This was yet another beautifully crafted ale produced by my now favourite brewer. Produced itself a clear copperish gold, light sparkle in the lights, with a short-lived whitish head that adhered minimal legs to the glass. Soft, continual wafts of controlled, rounded toasted malts, orange marmalade and floral, earthy fresh hops. Very clean. Nice, firm, malty palate, quite dry almost Pilsener-malt flavours come through as well with a good bitter, zesty bite of citrus fruits. Quite peppery as it crosses the tongue, nicely balanced with a good dose of Goldings hops showing a robust earthy and floral apex before a lightly bitter swallow that sees more clean malt and citrus fruits lingering in the mouth and down the throat. This was lovely. Deadly sessionable, extremely well balanced and very, very tasty. A lovely Bitter. A lovely brewery!!!!

Bottle conditioned from GBBF 2005. No head, and despite pouring carefully, a little haziness in the beautiful amber colour. Complex but immensely drinkable. Malt and fruit blended in the taste and a subtle bitterness crept in at the end. Wonderful. Cask at ’Spoons, M.K. 5th July, 2007. Caramel malt aroma. Fruity taste, some sourness, grainy background. Late bitterness.

Cask conditioned @ JDW, Soton ( in pleasing condition for a change). Lots of elements though none to the fore. A well balanced incredibly drinkable beer with a lively bitter finish.

Nice clear amber colour. In common with other Woodforde' s beers, it has lots of fruity notes throughout - in this case (as others have observed), dried fruits dominate - but a finely judged balancing hoppiness. Feels full-bodied for the weight and finishes long and well-balanced. Another excellent beer from Woodforde's. Handpump, Bear and Bells, Beccles, Suffolk, October 2003 - a very welcoming pub with a really friendly landlord who went out of his way to make strangers in town feel welcome.