Abbot Reserve
Greene King / Morland Brewery

 

500ml bottle into a goblet. Couldn't find any dating, but confident it was a winter 2024-25 release.

Splendid looking drink. Darkest amber body, small streams of carbonation replenish a small off white head. Aroma is, well, it smells English. If you know, you know. On tasting, good malty body, some toffee and oak notes, slightly sweet. There is a pleasant balanced bitterness lurking in the background, which carries over into to the finish.

Overall, a beefed up Abbot, and a nice surprise gift from a friend in the olde countrye. Thanks Pete.

 

 

500ml clear glass bottle.
L: Clear, mahogany red with two fingers of off-white head that collapses quickly to a cap but leaves rings of lacing. Beautiful colour.
S: Spicy, rich and sweet. Like a cinnamon Hobnob.
T: Follows the nose plus a heady dose of rum and fruit cake. Medium/low bitterness.
F: Smooth as velvet. Lovely oily mouthfeel with a gentle boozy sting in the finish.
O: Feels and tastes stronger than the 6.5% ABV. Fantastic winter warmer.

(Note to Greene King - please change the clear glass bottle to brown glass!)

This is probably my favorite British beer I've had on my trip, to date...

I now have had this as draft and from the bottle and I have to say, I think I like it more in draft, but nonetheless, it is consistent. Great dark copperish, reddish colored brew with nice beige colored head with staying power. The smell is light on toffee with a taste that meets you booze-forward with some caramel or is it toffee flavoring at the back end? Anyway, medium-bodied and smooth makes it so easy drinking that I am so glad I picked up a second one by accident for later in the weekend.

 

Poured from clear glass bottle, slightly skunky aroma, pours a rich mahogany. Quite sweet on initial taste, sort of like a rum and raisin ice cream, alcohol being noticeable on the pallet, 6.5% abv is noticeable. Typically earthy bitter hop finish from a strong English ale. Perfectly ok but not quite living up to as it looks in the bottle or poured into a glass

Had on cask. Clear brown pour with a cream colored frothy head. Rich toffee malts with nuts, dark fruits, and some booze create a full nose. Taste does so well to translate the rich caramel malt, big toffee, now raisin and caramelized date, and nuts, with brown bread, faint booze, plum, and earth in the supporting roles. Feel is the achilles heel though, as the malt richness, while light like the style, does give way to booze warmth cumulatively. Still, a wonderful english strong ale

 

 

 

Pours a crystal clear, deep amber coloration with a medium, foamy head and visible carbonation. Smells of bready, caramel malt, toffee and dark fruits, with just a hint of floral hops. Taste follows the nose, with a decent balance of lightly toasted, bready, caramel malt, toffee, brown sugar, dark/red fruits and lighter bitter, floral hops, with notes of raisin, plum and red currants. Finishes bittersweet, with a medium bitterness and some caramel malt, brown sugar and floral hops lingering in the aftertaste, as well as certain burnt rubber, metallic note. Full mouthfeel with a medium body and carbonation.

I used to remember Abbot Ale quite fondly from my time living in London, but that was about 20 years ago and I never had the Abbot Reserve, which left me a bit disappointed, to be honest. I guess this is a nice enough Strong Ale, with a decent balance of sweet malts and bitter hops, although it's still way too sweet for my personal taste, while there also is an odd rubbery/metallic note in the aftertaste that is somewhat unpleasant. Maybe it's skunkiness from the clear bottle, but I suspect something else is at work here. Rather nice, full mouthfeel though.

L: Chestnut orange, initial two fingers of head, good lacing
S: Woodiness, slight skunkiness, dark fruits, roasted malts
T: Brown sugar, toffee, nutiness, woodiness, hints of vanilla
F: Alcohol is well-hidden, slightly overcarbonated

O: 4

 

 

L- Mid chestnut brown, clear, pours with 3Cm uniformly fine-bubble just off-white pillowy head. I gave that a moment to recede a touch and topped up the trad pint glass. 20 minutes later it has reduced to a thin film and broad lacing down the sides, impressive.
S- I popped the cap and the waft was like a Rasta had just floated into the room, man. Now it's settled down I sniff again - a lovely roastiness.
T- Toasty and hoppy, soon heading off into deeper richness, elements of Xmas pudding, deep fruity cake-like richness.
M- To me this a winter warmer, something for colder months to slowly enjoy next to an open fire. It's fulfilling vs 'refreshing' as such.
O- It has quite an impactful flavour, underpinned and enhanced via it's 6.5%. If you told me blind-tasted it was 7.5% I'd believe you. I think this is gorgeous, I'd happily drink this on a regular basis, at £1.70/pint it's a screaming bargain to me. At the time of writing this rates 3.74/29 Ratings which surprises me; to me this is a magnificant beer. There is nothing, not any tiny facet that seems out of place. I don't know, I don't pre-meditate these things, but after 400+ reviews I'd expect this to rate somewhere in or near my top-10 reviews, it really seems that good to me.
The irony is that I bought this from Tesco, Market Square on a visit to Norwich; and I've never seen it elsewhere, in London or regionally. Now if only I knew where to buy this near me!
£1.70/pint bottle.
In fact I'd really tip other readers to keep their eyes open when off home turf. In the same shop I also found a Duvel Citra (new to me), ditto a bottle of Thornbridge Tart and others. I'd naively imagined such beers would be pitched to metropolitan tastes, rather than those lucky Norfolk beer-fans.