Youngs Special London Ale

Brewed by Wells & Youngs
Style: English Strong Ale
Bedford, England

Great perfume on the nose of this beer -- pine, grapefruit, bubblegum and toffee malts. In appearance, the beer is a rich amber and brilliant in the glass. Taste is a hops adventure, from bite to fruit to a piney finish. Palate is consistent with a champagne-like expression of bubbles as the beer leaves the tongue.

Bottle. Pour was brown with a creamy tan head. Nose was fruity and flowery, some wood notes. Yeast after taste, nothing real bitter here.

(Bottle 50 cl) Deliciously light brown with a lovely, creamy head. Very full body. Nutty - almost sherryish - flavours and a pronounced bitter finish. Very nice brew indeed. 151000

(Bottle 50 cl) As "Millennium Edition" - same thing. 7/4/7/3/14=3,5 240901

Bottle. Nice, lasting head. Amber/golden colour. Fruity aroma and taste. Oily. Sourish finish - hardhy any bitterness at all. KI=7

500ml. bottle. Clear orange/amber color with a small off white head. Fruity, malty aroma with some citrus hops. Mildly sweet malt flavor with some pine and citrus hops. Somewhat biscuity on the finish. Quite drinkable, if unremarkable.

The first of the Young’s bottled ales, that I have tasted, to atleast excite my taste buds. Held captive for half a year I feared it dead, but it lived up to label description and seemed fresh as ever. Poured into an English pint glass, quite cool. Clear, brilliant in fact, orangey copper body with very small spurts of fine carbonation raising up a thin, dense and creamy layer that lasted and left a little lace. It simply looked good and profoundly British in the pint. Clean, piney and grassy, orange and tangerine nose; fresh but simple. Quite citric and spicy in the mouth, fresh and quenching. Medium bodied and soft in carbonation. Flavours of tangy oranges and tangerines, grapefruit and pine nuts (it simply reminded me of a pine forest!), toffee upfront and perfumy, floral hops in the back that balanced it out with success. Finish is crisp, clean and lightly bitter with a lingering flavour similar to it’s simplistic palate. I didn’t see the need for this to be so high in alcohol as it was a fairly simple ESB style beer, thirst quenching and easy drinking. Quite nice!! (50cL, 26/03/06, Int’l Beer Shop, W. Leederville)

Tap: Clear brown body. Aroma is light hops - earth, and caramel. Definitely very English style. Almost too much so. Finishes bitter, enjoyable but not a favorite.

Tasted 04/11/2005. 500ml bottle-conditioned, from NW Metro, Wellington. Pours a slightly hazy orange-gold. Head disappears so fast I can only just make out it was a yellowish off-white. Oily rather than lacey. Nose is hops and esters - I definitely get the maris otter malt but it’s mostly oranges, lemonade, spices, musty and the alcohol is quite pungent. A hint vegetal in the background suggests this one’s not 100%. A dry, spicey, flavour is dominated by orange citrus and spice, after a candy-like opening. As it warms a strong, toffee, toastiness comes through. Alcohol is warm-to-hot in the mouth. Medium mouthweight become quite creamy as it warms. This is good but it’s lacking the smoothness of a very great belgian strong ale. It’s also not totally well-kept, I reckon.