Duck's Breath Ale
McNeill's Brewery

Duck's Breath AleDuck's Breath Ale
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From:
McNeill's Brewery
 
Vermont, United States
Style:
English Strong Ale
ABV:
5.5%
Score:
85
Avg:
3.72 | pDev: 16.94%
Reviews:
23
Ratings:
25
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Aug 19, 2016
Added:
Aug 04, 1998
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  1
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Billolick:
Photo of Billolick
Reviewed by Billolick from New York

3.97/5  rDev +6.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Bomber bottle, purchased up in Montpelier, Vt. Pours cloudy, medium brown, low carbonation, chunky particles, next to no head. This stuff looks like home brew! Hoppy, musty, earthy nose. Mellow brew, sweet malt base, lightly hopped. low carbonation adds up to a nice soft and smooth mouthfeel. Balanced ale. tasty finish of hop notes and more earthyness. Down to earth and tasty. Worth a try
Aug 03, 2004
More User Ratings:
Photo of Crackblind
Reviewed by Crackblind from New York

4.42/5  rDev +18.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Reported retired but available on cask at the brewery in Brattleboro in August, 2016. Pours a cloudy amber with a nice foamy head. Fruity on both the nose and tongue, especially at the first sip. A bit thin feeling. This is the bitter I remember drinking way back when on my first visit to London, before you could even think of getting a fresh example on this side of the pond! I really hope this means more will be readily available or I'm going to have to make regular trips up here (it's cheaper than flying across three ocean).
Aug 19, 2016
 
Rated: 5 by FrankLloydMike from Massachusetts

Dec 08, 2011
 
Rated: 3 by Rochefort10nh from New Hampshire

Nov 28, 2011
Photo of david18
Reviewed by david18 from New York

2.97/5  rDev -20.2%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
I had a draft of this at the Amsterdam ale house on the upper west side of manhattan. There might have something wrong with it but it was extremely cloudy. You couldn't see into at all. The flavor was ok. A little bland but pretty much like many English ales. No carbonation to speak of but that may be related to the cloudy issue.
Jun 25, 2010
Photo of Brad007
Reviewed by Brad007 from Vermont

4.05/5  rDev +8.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
Pours a nice cloudy pale amber color with an ample head and some lacing. Aroma is mostly nice and bitter, mildly chewy and even somewhat hoppy. Taste is malty and bitter on the tongue and fades to a bitter/fruity aftertaste. Goes down pretty smooth and leaves a nice dryness at the back of the throat. Mouthfeel is interesting for this beer. Not too bitter in any form. Decent.
Dec 03, 2007
Photo of Sammy
Reviewed by Sammy from Canada (ON)

3.48/5  rDev -6.5%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
On cask at the brewpub. No aroma. Served properly, a little warm. Clearly an English bitter style and bitterness. minimal head and soke lace on golden amber. Understated bitterness,well malted, so while nailed the style still not bold profile and concurrent score.
Jul 16, 2007
Photo of shbobdb
Reviewed by shbobdb from Indiana

3.63/5  rDev -2.4%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5
Wow, this is a great beer, but it is also definately the poster-child for 'needs to be on cask'. I don't know whether McNeil's does put it on cask, but they ought!

Like most British-style beers, the minerals dominate the taste, smell, and mouthfeel. The hops in this bitter add a pleasant numbing sensation to the mouth as well as a nice leathery bite. There is also a definite presence of some nice, toffee-like British malts.

Another winner from McNeil's. Again, this is a fairly straightforward beer, it reminds me a lot of Fuller's ESB, and I mean that in the best way possible. An excellent beer, but I have to ask, what would this beer lose by being ~3% abv? I like this beer a great deal, but since the water ended up being the dominant flavour anyway, they may as well have made it a raging session beer.

Minor nitpicks aside, a great, great beer.
Apr 16, 2007
Photo of TeddyBrew
Reviewed by TeddyBrew from California

4.37/5  rDev +17.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5
I stopped by McNeill's on Friday night on the way to NH. Had time for a couple pints of this fine bitter, and liked it enough to want to stop for a growler on the way back to NYC. That growler was a bargain at $9. By the way it's a fine bar with a friendly crowd.

This beer has the refreshing taste, but full flavor, that you are more likely to find in a session bitter over in the UK. I'm generally not a fan of over-hopped beers, and I find the hopping here to be subtle and interesting. Nice citrus tones throughout and a really fine mouthfeel. It's not an incredibly complex ale, but has a comfortable smell and taste, and is tremendously drinkable. A great beer in my view.
Apr 09, 2007
Photo of bjohnson
Reviewed by bjohnson from Massachusetts

3.63/5  rDev -2.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Purchased at the Brattleboro Co-op, $3.99

A: Pours a hazy amber color with a frothy one and a half finger white head. Excellent retention and wonderfully tight lacing.
S: Fruit and floral hop notes are pretty powerful. Slight metallic notes also. Fruity notes are also a bit juicy.
T/M: Fruity hop notes stick on the tongue followed by a long lasting bitterness. Extra dry on the palate makes it hard to move the tongue across the roof of the mouth. Clean and refreshing. Less than moderate body on this brew and a bit light. Not so much the duck's breath if you ask me--I'm not spitting hops like the label suggests. A tad buttery.
D: A prototypical session brew to be had a the brewery as I'm sure it's better on tap. Wasn't too impressed, but it didn't disappoint either.
Feb 06, 2007
Photo of UncleJimbo
Reviewed by UncleJimbo from Massachusetts

3.91/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Sampled from cask at the brewpub.

The ESB poured a clear-to-very-slightly-hazy, amber color with sudsy, white foam that persisted. The smell was hoppy (chalky, English hops) with a hint of sulfur. The taste was moderately malty with flavors of English malt and English hops (moderate hoppiness overall). A respectable ESB. The mouthfeel was dry and smooth with medium body and low carbonation (cask). It was relatively clean, with a lightly malty finish. This was a smooth and easy drinking ESB, one off the flagship brews of McNeill's.
Aug 31, 2006
Photo of GratefulBeerGuy
Reviewed by GratefulBeerGuy from New Hampshire

3.67/5  rDev -1.3%
look: 3 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
yeah...you gotta have this AT Mcneill's.

Pours a medium amber with orange hues. Small, thin white head appearing, then dissapearing. only lightly carbonated, lacing minimal.

Smells of fruity hops, actually is a bit "bitter" on the nose with hints of malty sweetness. slightly earthy smells of "greenery".

Taste is a flowery bitter hop effect slightly mellowed by bit of sweet malt and yeastyness. I also get a bit of "veggie" in there.

kind of heavy on the palate for what looks like a rather thin brew, the bitter hops let's you know what's happenin'. Starts bitter/sweet finishes bitter. It lives up the name!
Jun 11, 2006
Photo of kennyo
Reviewed by kennyo from New York

1.96/5  rDev -47.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 1.5
purchased bottle at the Brattleboro Food Coop

Pours a hazy light brown with a nice white head that dissapates fairly quickly. Aroma is malt and what is that, lemon. Oh No, another badly bottled beer by McNeills. the taste is lemon with a little sweetness. Almost undrinkable, got through 17 of the 22oz.

There have been threads on the BA about the inconsistency of the McNeill bottled products and this is one of them.

I have had this beer before and it was very good and I thought about not reviewing it but that is what this page is fore.
Feb 14, 2006
Photo of weeare138
Reviewed by weeare138 from Pennsylvania

3.97/5  rDev +6.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Appears an orange amber color with a 1 finger creamy white head. Tiny amounts of lacing is left around the glass.
Smell is of an oaky English style ale with hints of vanilla, caramel, and orange citrus hops. Very homebrew-esqu in my opinion.
Taste is of the same aromas. Bitter-sweet brew with sugary orange hops running along the palate to the back and lingering back to the front.
Mouthfeel is slightly chewy with a bitter-sweetness that stands out. English style ale yeast was utilized and keeps things interesting.
Dec 22, 2005
Photo of andjusticeforale
Reviewed by andjusticeforale from Connecticut

3.8/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
This poured without much head or carbonation into a pint glass It was orange rust colored and looked like syrup.

This had an interesting taste of hops, both flavor ansd bittering, and a nice malty background. There was an IPA quality to this, but more subtle. There was a unique bitter and sweet aftertaste, and very good drinkability as the glass warmed.

My first Mcneill's, definitely not my last.
Dec 14, 2005
Photo of ChappyCubsFan
Reviewed by ChappyCubsFan from California

3.97/5  rDev +6.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
This was our hotel nightcap after an evening of visiting Which Brew Tavern in Easton, PA. I don't think the others were quite ready for this beer. It was definitely a unique beer, and seemed to have a stronger alcohol content than the 5.5%. Personally, I really enjoyed it. It reminded me of the good McNeil's beers we sampled at the 2002 Vermont Brew Festival. The malt was sweet and the aroma was like roasted malt and molasses. It had some citrusy taste as well. The bittering hops came through in the classic English style. For a West Coast hophead, this was an enjoyable experience.
Aug 07, 2005
Photo of francisweizen
Reviewed by francisweizen from Washington

4.16/5  rDev +11.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5
Let's just say copper. Fresh from the cask @ the brewery this one had a lovely look with it's colour and carbonation being just right. Temperature was perfect as well. Aromas were a bit light in the start, but the juicy citrusy hops were there, and the biscuity malts were also there to balance out the hops. Taste was bitter with citric hops up front and the middle was malt dominated and a bit "chewy". Finish was very dry and hoppy, just like I like it. Mouthfeel was cask wonderfulness smooth and oh-so-easy-drinkin'. Drinkability is a 5 my friend, it's so easy to just drink these cask bitters all night long at McNeils.
Jul 19, 2005
Photo of ppoitras
Reviewed by ppoitras from Massachusetts

3.61/5  rDev -3%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5
22ozer from Waterbury Beverage, Waterbury, VT.

Poured into an imperial pint glass, formed a slightly off-white 1/2" head over a dark golden brew. Laces nicely, even though the head has faded down to a small layer of foam. Very slight malt and hop nose. Taste is of pale malts, and then rounds out with a balancing amount of hops. Mouthfeel is somewhat neutral, but the drinkability is great. Sort of like an O-positive of brews, it would probably go with everything.
May 13, 2004
Photo of edchicma
Reviewed by edchicma from Massachusetts

4.17/5  rDev +12.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Only thing lacking was appearance. No head and an overly cloudy appearance. Great smell..earthy, malty and inviting. Taste was excellent...Initial light sweetness with a mid-palate bitter aspect that continued nicely into the finish and remained nicely on the finish. Slightly chewy mouthfeel that was smooth nonetheless. Easy on the drinkability scale. Another good offering from McNeill's.
May 11, 2004
Photo of waughbrew
Reviewed by waughbrew from Massachusetts

2.35/5  rDev -36.8%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5
Very light hazy amber with close to zero head and retention, minimal stickiness. Smells like yeast, grassy hops, and grainy sweetness. Taste is rather sweet toasted grains with a bit of grassy, faintly citrusy hoppage. Finishes sweet. The flavor is a little astringent and a little buttery.

Very reminiscent of mediocre homebrew, I expected to see that this beer was a 3% bitter and then I would understand why it doesn't have much good flavor to it. If it is really a 5.5% ESB then it has little excuse.

This beer isn't that bad, but it isn't good either. I probably won't buy it again.

(After reading the other reviews, this might not have been the best bottle. Maybe the bottle conditioning didn't complete, because this was sweet with very low carbonation, not that hoppy or bitter)
Apr 27, 2004
Duck's Breath Ale from McNeill's Brewery
Beer rating: 85 out of 100 with 25 ratings