Mercury Best Bitter
Ipswich Ale Brewery

I don't know what these guys are doing with their three brands (Mercury, Ipswich, Stonecat), but whatever they make, it's always good. I got to try this last night and it's another solid, well made beer. A hazy yellow orange appearance, with a head full of bubbles and holes, nice retention. Smell and taste have a definate distinct English vibe, but with more aggressive hopping and bitterness I'd say. I find a lot of bitters to be more mild, but this one was very bitter and biting, as the name might suggest. Lots of dusty bark tastes and a nice spicy hop profile. Estery, and a lightly sweet malt and toffee taste backs up the bitterness nicely. Very authentic tasting cask beer. As usual, excellent super smooth creamy mouthfeel, yet dry. Can't go wrong with this one, it'll make you think you're in some old English pub somewhere. Very nice.

A simply straight-forward, uncomplex brew. Quite nice and refreshing. A number of these would go down quite happily. Poured a hazy, burnt copper--like a bright, new shiny penny. Nose is full of aromatic hops. Each sip of this beer repeated the same patter: flowery hops, toasted malts, and then another burst of flowery hops and lemon zest. Nice dry finish. Perhaps the only slight negative to this beer is that as it warmed it began to sour just slightly.

I tell ya, we are lucky in the Boston area...you time it right, sometimes you can walk into a local beer bar/brewpub and something is freshly tapped, and you really get some fresh brews. this was one of them, on draft at the Buks Cambridge location. This was listed as Mercury Bitter, special release, lets hope they release it more than once. Golden amber, that frothed up head released a super fresh hit of fresh flowery hops. Mouthfeel was about as nicely rounded a medium as you could ask for. The fresh flowery hops were as evident in the taste, and the finish was some nice toasty malts. This was good stuff, would be a great session beer.