Duchy Originals Bottle Conditioned Summer Ale
Wychwood Brewery Company Ltd

Appearance: pale brown-gold, slight haze, medium layer of off-white spongey foam, good head retention

Aroma: malty bread with hints of sultanas, honey, yeast, and lemony hops

Flavor: dry malt backbone; quite tart hop bitterness with a flavor like unripe pears; hints of lemon peel and wheat; finishes dry with a lingering bitterness and malty aftertaste

Mouthfeel: medium body, pert carbonation, crisp texture, slight astringency

Other comments: Definitely a nice, crisp summer ale, though not one for someone who doesn't like a firm hop bitterness and dry finish. In other words, this wouldn't be one to use to bring in female drinkers or lager louts (no offense, ladies) a la the Fuller's Discovery strategy.

Although bottle conditioned, the liquid is clear. The Colour is brass with at tint of copper. The off white compact foam builds a slowly sinking two finger head.

The smell is very strong; robust notes of bread-like malt mix with traditional English hops: Spicy sour (wheat) notes of yeast and green apples.

The taste is very refreshing, the first notes are wheat-sour, but it is blended with a bread-cookie-like semisweet barley malt note. There are spicy notes of aroma hops, some chemical wax, (Fuggles?), some earthy notes and a robust growing bitterness. The aftertaste is bitter with some yeast.

The carbonation is medium; microscopic bubbes. The liquid is quite thick.

I have had a few traditional English bitters with added wheat malt during the last months. I wonder if it’s a trend or something. Anyway it is a very refrehing style.

A. Light amber with a white foamy head with rather big bubbles that dissapates quite fast.
S: First rose. Then malt, red berries, phenols. Some sweetness of perhaps honey.
T: Bitterness, malt, lots of hops, some sweetness.
M: Below medium body, good carboration.

Looks ok, smells lovely, tastes very good. A bit too carborated for my taste or for a bitter for that matter. Still a nice beer.

Duchy's bottle conditioned Summer Ale made me a little confused. If it's an ale it's very close to a Czech lager. Come to think of it, it could almost pass as a Vienna lager. It poured in a nice golden yellow colour with a finger of thick foam. The smell was very developed with flowers, herbs, hops, and crackers. The taste was bitter and spicy with some sweetness and notes of bread. A little too carbonated for my taste. A rich tasting beer!

Having tried two other beers in the Duchy Originales range, I finally spotted this one at a Waitrose supermarket in Brighton. BB 04/06/2007, served cool in a straight imperial-pint glass.

A: pours a pale amber hue, quite clear with tiny bits of yeast sediments floating in the nectar; very low in carbonation with a negligible rimmed head.
S: nice hoppy entry, with a slightly sharp, Fuggle-like earthy+hay-ish edge hand in hand with Challenger-like pineapple-ish and citric fruitiness; malt-syrupy and biscuity malts are rolled in one, not too loud, serving as a solid backbone to highlight the hops. Overall, very focused and intense on the aroma, yet slightly simplistic.
T: an intensely bitter-sweet flavour of oat-biscuits and nuts prevails along with hay-ish, earthy+dirt-ish, slightly stinky hoppyness of Fuggles or the likes, with a touch of bitter grapefruit-zests behind... the evolving palate gradually gives way to a typically English touch of diacetyl balanced with 3D-textured bitter malts, dried tea-leafy hops, and intensifying bitterness rubbing the wings and rear of the tongue. Lots of malt+hop aroma lingers in the deep end, prolonging the sensations knowing no boundaries.
M&D: medium-bodied, the mouthfeel is simply ideal, soft in carbonation, going smooth and smoother, like a cask-conditioned ale even. This beer bears a superb balance b/w earthy hops and deeply-flavoured Marris Otter malts--tasting absolutely English, traditional, and nice. Not a beer for Bitter-unbelievers, though! I'd love to see it on cask, which I presume would be a rare success by Wychwood.