Morrissey Fox Blonde Ale
Morrissey Fox / Ye Olde Punch Bowl Inn

Two 500ml bottles, best before Oct 2010, reviewed during one of my random tasting sessions in Sept 2010.

Poured into UK pint sleeves: The beer was a pale, dull, matt yellow. It might have had a chill haze because I miss read the label, it said 'larder chilled' and i thought I saw 'lager chilled' and had it in the fridge for a day before opening! Anyway the white head was fine and produced some good lacing on both glasses.

The aroma was citrus based, grapefruit seemed to leap out at me, some floral notes too.

The taste was also fairly citrusy, with a hop bitterness arriving late on, the beer was a sweet and sour blend of flavours and nicely balanced.

Easy to drink, taken with a pasta salad.

500 mL bottle poured into a pint glass.

First things first--I don't see this as an English bitter but something more akin to a pale ale or blonde ale (as the name implies). It doesn't have the typical characteristics of bitter, IMHO.

Smells slightly fruity, picking up some faint cherry.

1-finger head of larger bubbles (not foam) with very minimal lacing. This sits atop a very blonde (yes, urine-colored) ale, but in a pleasant way.

Tastes more floral than fruity as the nose might have suggested it would. Early on in the glass there is a nice balance of bitter and sweet with a punchy flavor--a nice use of the hops. Further down the glass, as it warms, I pick up major diacetyl both in the flavor and in the buttery mouthfeel. The flavor is significantly different as it warms.

Nice carbonation in the mouthfeel upfront--light and refreshing. It's almost too light and refreshing with a slightly lagerish feel. The buttery diacetyl plays out in the mouthfeel further down the glass.

Drinkability is average. It starts out good, but changes significantly down the glass. Still, I wouldn't turn it down if offered to me.

500ml bottle bought from Tescos...

Poured a light golden honey colour. White head poured thick and foamy with a pock marked topping then faded to light covering with thick edging... some light carbonation bubbles drift slowly to the surface... light lacing...

Aroma - Some juicy tart fruits with maybe some tropical hints (peaches, lemons and limes, pears,), quite grassy, floral honey, light sweet grainy malts, talcum powder traces, herbal, peppery hops...

Taste pretty much mirrors the aromas... decent grassy and peppery hop bitterness, quite floral, some hay, metallic hints, light biscuit malts, mouth watering fruits (lemons, apples, limes), some saltiness, faint floral honey sweetness, light chalky hints...

M&D - Fairly sharp and dry... light bodied... a quaffable and sessionble brew at 4.2%...

Overall - A decent enough if slightly uninspiring golden ale... nothing groundbreaking but fairly drinkable...

Coming in a 500ml slim brown bottle, filtered; BB 20/08/09, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass.

A: coming in a shining dark yellow golden hue, with mild carbonation and a dissipating white fluffy head.
S: the light skunk, hays, aromatic grassy hops (like Saaz) and mildly honey-ish malts upfront ring a bell of Czech Pilsner! A swirl wakes up more orangey-citric English hops and malts, skirted by a lemony sour as well as metallic edge. Not bad.
T: lots of slightly stinky, hay-ish taste of malts and yeasts are followed by intensifying lemony-sour taste and utterly dry bitterness with a typical taste of English pale bitter that reminds me personally of dirty table cloth (but in a "positive" sense as this image is closely connected to English pale malts for me~~)... really really chewy in the long and high-level bitter finish.
M&D: clean on the palate, lightly carbonated, utterly dry and reasonably well-lasting bitter in the end... All in all, this is a well-made and quaffable session-type blond ale with lots of bitter palate to offer, yet apart from this virtue it's hard to see anything particularly special; a good attempt at luring crap-lager drinkers into the world of real ales, though.