Soo's Lug
Oakham Ales / The Brewery Tap

This is the only beer I've kept a note of during the Pig's Ear Beer Festival, early December 2006, which was resumed this year after a two-year interval. Having barely 1.5 hours in total for this long-awaited event, I was anxiously looking for special brews and couldn't help getting lost in the well-made festival programme. Thanks to fellow BA Robbeer who volunteered to work there that evening, I didn't miss this superbly hoppy and delicious Premium Bitter~~ Tasted by half-pint, gravity-dispensed.

A: very fresh-looking, clear pale copper in colour; the pale-beige, tightly-foamy head is retained pretty well and settles to loosely-puffy foam constantly on top.
S: the richly-fruity and lively fragrant hops--firmly in line with US hop presentation, I believe--are balanced by a rich body of sweet nutty malts with a light note of toffees... The overall aroma is as richly malty as mouth-wateringly hoppy.
T: the fruitiness upfront consists of lots and lots of dried berries and juicy sweet nutty malts, followed by a thick body of dryish hops that is tangy in texture, piney and flowery in flavour, and leaves a wave of tongue-plucking bitter aftertaste lingering at the back of the palate and throat knowing no limits... almost like the aftertaste of Chinese herb-medicine soup/tea~~
M&D: medium-plus bodied, quite smooth in carbonation yet refreshing enough without being cloying or sticky; overall this is a VERY tasty, fruity and hoppy premium bitter with a fantastic 3D performance of hops and bitterness. Thanks to Rob I didn't miss this impressive special brew, and I only wish it could become a regular in the future.