Poacher's Choice
Badger Brewery, Hall and Woodhouse

Poacher's ChoicePoacher's Choice
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From:
Badger Brewery, Hall and Woodhouse
 
England, United Kingdom
Style:
Winter Warmer
Ranked #109
ABV:
5.7%
Score:
83
Ranked #23,731
Avg:
3.65 | pDev: 20.82%
Reviews:
34
Ratings:
65
Status:
Active
Rated:
Jun 10, 2022
Added:
Oct 21, 2007
Wants:
  2
Gots:
  11
This rich, smooth brew has a softly spiced sweetness with dark liquorice notes and a fruity damson aroma. Poachers Choice is a gutsy ruby ale that is well matched with hearty game pie or a tangy mature cheese.
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Photo of Sigmund
Reviewed by Sigmund from Norway

3.03/5  rDev -17%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75
500 ml brown bottle, as Badger Poachers Choice, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 5.7%. Clear brown colour, moderate off-white head. Strong aroma of damson / plums, over-ripe raspberries and some weird fruity cough syrup I bought in Scotland once. The flavour is fruity and slightly roasty, notes of plums, over-ripe raspberries and cough syrup again. Moderate hops. Pretty weird beer.
Jun 10, 2022
Photo of Poke_it_with_a_stick
Reviewed by Poke_it_with_a_stick from England

1.19/5  rDev -67.4%
look: 2.5 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 2 | overall: 1
This is my type of beer, but in all honesty it was the worst beer I've ever had.

Ripe cheese on the nose, and sweet blackcurrant on the palate.

Horrible.
Dec 22, 2018
Photo of Blackop555
Reviewed by Blackop555 from Michigan

3.07/5  rDev -15.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3
Pours dark reddish brown. Foamy, short off-white head that Fades fast.

Smells fruity, toasty and artificial fruit.

Taste up front is a medicinal almost Robitussin and fruit. Followed by earthiness and burnt sugar. Finish is semi-dry with a yeast linger. Medium body and fizzy lower carbonation.
Aug 31, 2018
Photo of JonnoWillsteed
Reviewed by JonnoWillsteed from England

4.07/5  rDev +11.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
L- Very dark chesnut, Pours with 1cm head, holds well.
S- Puddingy, Xmas pudding. Nice.
T- Wow. Fruits, through a series of rich fruit-wine flavours. Luscious.
M- 'Light but heavy'. It has that clean but solid thing going on.
O- Very very nice. First beer of 5 different ones tonight that's really raised my flag. You can tell this comes with some heft, though perhaps a bit less than the 5.7% that it is. This is VERY good, and mental note to self I should look out immediately to buy more of it.
BB Feb-19. Bought from Waitrose London.
Aug 27, 2018
Photo of saboliver
Reviewed by saboliver from England

4.28/5  rDev +17.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Rich, dark ruby with a moderate head. Gloriously sweet, fruity taste. Berry flavours without being tart, with a cereal, almost toasty or oat-like taste and a hint of butter or cream in the background, something reminiscent of wafers with ice-cream. There is plenty of malt there too. Moderate bitterness. A full flavour and moderately full body for the abv.
Feb 17, 2018
 
Rated: 4.24 by maxist from Russian Federation

Jan 27, 2018
Photo of Jwtchkg
Rated by Jwtchkg from England

4.1/5  rDev +12.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
A nice ale with a pleasant berry fruits after taste
Jan 27, 2018
 
Rated: 3.73 by EdmundBlackadder from Ohio

Dec 16, 2017
 
Rated: 3.75 by dandy14 from Brazil

Nov 21, 2017
 
Rated: 3.59 by windowside from Germany

Jul 07, 2017
Photo of heygeebee
Reviewed by heygeebee from Australia

3.44/5  rDev -5.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.25
Pouts dark reddish, large bubbles on head.
Aromas and taste are all sweet malts, molasses, hint cinnamon sugar, and maybe a little orange.
Really quite sweet overall, medium bodied low carb to style.
Sweetness detracts.
It's a winter warmer and I'm drinking it in January. In Sydney. Go figure :-)
Feb 03, 2017
Photo of Spike
Reviewed by Spike from England

3.7/5  rDev +1.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
From 500ml bottle.

L: Clear, dark copper with a rich, foamy, off-white head that lasts to the end. Spotty lacing.

S: Sweet and fruity. Plum pudding. Maybe a little too sweet.

T: Autumn fruits, cinnamon, sugar, alcohol.

F: Medium body with gentle carbonation, a little spicy kick, and soft bitterness.

O: This is the best I've drunk from Badger Brewery. It's sweet and fruity (dark fruits, not floral) and well suited to the darker months. Too sweet to be drunk in quantity but pleasant enough.
May 01, 2016
Photo of Andrewharemza
Reviewed by Andrewharemza from Australia

4.16/5  rDev +14%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
From bottle, pours a Amber light brown colour with a small ring of off white head. Aroma black current, dark fruits. Taste plum, cherry, dark fruits, caramel. Very nice.
Apr 11, 2016
 
Rated: 3.77 by Martine from England

Mar 06, 2016
 
Rated: 3.98 by AlexW693

Jan 30, 2016
Photo of wonderdave
Reviewed by wonderdave from England

1.53/5  rDev -58.1%
look: 4 | smell: 1 | taste: 1 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 1.5
Poured from a bottle bought from supermarket into a dimpled pint glass, served cold.

Appearance - Quite a nice ruby amber with a decent head.

Smell - I found the smell immediately off-putting- a sickly sweet pungent aroma, hints of nail-polish remover.

Taste - Several other reviews compare the taste to a childs drink, I think this is a pretty accurate assesment, and is not a good thing to my taste. The mouthfeel is not bad, but the intial nose of that sweetness dominates the experience for me, as does the aftertaste which I found sickly sweet.

Mouthfeel - Quite full and as mentioned above, not bad.

Overall - The sweetness of this is just awful to my taste, it dominates the experience with an almost chemical tang. I like winter-warmer beers in general, but this one was so unlikeable that I tipped half of it down the sink, and the last beer I did that with was one of those awful sweet 'tequila-flavoured' lagers.
Dec 18, 2015
 
Rated: 2.47 by FCox143 from England

Nov 01, 2015
 
Rated: 4.3 by 123321123321 from Alabama

Sep 01, 2015
Photo of themightyinferno
Rated by themightyinferno from England

5/5  rDev +37%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Amazingly fruity with a licorice after taste, beautiful stuff.
Jul 10, 2015
Photo of Sharpee1937
Rated by Sharpee1937 from England

3.95/5  rDev +8.2%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Extremely pleasant fruity beer almost tastes like a cider.
Mar 20, 2015
Poacher's Choice from Badger Brewery, Hall and Woodhouse
Beer rating: 83 out of 100 with 65 ratings