Abbot Ale
Greene King / Morland Brewery

Abbot AleAbbot Ale
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From:
Greene King / Morland Brewery
 
England, United Kingdom
Style:
Extra Special / Strong Bitter (ESB)
Ranked #94
ABV:
5%
Score:
83
Ranked #24,197
Avg:
3.66 | pDev: 14.75%
Reviews:
383
Ratings:
726
Status:
Active
Rated:
Dec 26, 2023
Added:
Jul 07, 2001
Wants:
  38
Gots:
  103
Hailed by the late beer writer Michael Jackson as ‘one of the great characters of the beer world’, Abbot Ale is brewed for quality of the highest order. Abbot is an irresistible ale with masses of fruit characters, a malty richness and superb hop balance. It is brewed longer to a unique recipe, which makes it the full-flavoured, smooth and mature beer it is today.
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Ratings by degerbah:
Photo of degerbah
Reviewed by degerbah from Ohio

4/5  rDev +9.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3 | overall: 4.5
Pours a cloudy reddish tan with a very small amount of head. The aroma is very bready. The taste is malty with a small hint of hoppy flavoring. After I got over the flatness characteristic to the style, the beer really started to grow on me. Each sip I enjoyed the beer more. There really isn't much aftertaste at all as I finish through the beer. I really enjoyed this and might go out of my way to try this again.
May 03, 2010
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.75 by BrisLoganite from Australia

Dec 26, 2023
Photo of Spike
Reviewed by Spike from England

4.28/5  rDev +16.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
On draught at The Bell pub in the City of London .
L: Rich, lustrous, dark copper colour with a one-finger, white head. A few streams of bubbles and lots of lacing.
S: Caramel & rich tea biscuits.
T: This is all about the malt. Orchard fruits, toffee, caramel, madeira cake & brown sugar. Hops are used mainly for gentle, leafy bittering. The balance is excellent.
F: Medium body that coats the roof of the mouth. A long & sweet/dry finish.
O: Rich & fruity & velvety. Great example of a traditional English cask ale.

PS. This is a tiny, historic pub tucked away on Bush Lane next to Cannon St station. They have a small range of very nicely kept cask ales (Abbot, Sussex Best, Landlord) plus a solid pint of Guinness. A hidden gem. Worth searching out.
Nov 13, 2023
Photo of WunderLlama
Reviewed by WunderLlama from Massachusetts

3.76/5  rDev +2.7%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
Brewers notes: Notes: Hailed by the late beer writer Michael Jackson as ‘one of the great characters of the beer world’, Abbot Ale is brewed for quality of the highest order. Abbot is an irresistible ale with masses of fruit characters, a malty richness and superb hop balance. It is brewed longer to a unique recipe, which makes it the full-flavoured, smooth and mature beer it is today.

On cask at the The Imperial near the Trocadero in London

Clear copper liquid, no foam cAP

Aroma is malty , sweet

Taste is sweet, malty, almost tea like taste

Smooth beer, low carbonation

Good beer
Sep 22, 2023
Photo of Gatch
Reviewed by Gatch from Massachusetts

3.89/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75
From cask at Three Tuns in London. Much better than their other bitter on cask but not nearly the quality of Landlord. Great malt flavor and a touch of hops to make a proper bitter. Slightly sweet and so smooth.
Aug 10, 2023
 
Rated: 3.32 by Dentist666 from Russian Federation

May 15, 2023
 
Rated: 2.8 by stephenlee93 from England

May 04, 2023
 
Rated: 3.5 by Ushouldbeworkinh from England

Apr 06, 2023
 
Rated: 3.5 by Robertas from Lithuania

Nov 27, 2022
Photo of T100Mark
Reviewed by T100Mark from California

4.29/5  rDev +17.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Cask ale pulled into a shaker pint glass on a sunny June afternoon at The George in Southwark, London.

Appearance - Reddish copper color. Great clarity. A moderately thick head. Great stickage on the inside of the glass. A very handsome ale!

Nose - Sweet. A touch spicy. A slight whiff of Licorice. Nice!

Taste - Sweet. Malty. A touch of burnt caramel. Again, a bit of licorice. A slight hop zing on the tail end. Very tasty!

Mouth - Buttery. Smooth. Classy.

Full disclosure; the setting might have affected this review. The wife and I were on vacation and I was giddy with emotion. Regardless, this ale was just soooo good! We hit quite a few pubs on this trip (I'll be posting more reviews in "Places"). Many of the ales that I sampled were very good. There were also a couple disappointments. This ale was the best of our trip (just edging out the Doom Bar and the "Oh, Mister Porter").
Aug 02, 2022
 
Rated: 3.53 by burnaby391 from Canada (ON)

Jul 24, 2022
Photo of mpk2020
Rated by mpk2020 from Illinois

4/5  rDev +9.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
From cask. Tasty brew!
Jul 23, 2022
Photo of Radome
Reviewed by Radome from Florida

4.06/5  rDev +10.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
I tasted this as a cask-conditioned real ale during a April 2022 business trip to London. It had an incredible appearance; light copper color with brilliant clarity and a great head. The flavors and aromas were good for a classic English ale, and it was one of the best cask ales I had on that trip. It is probably not fair to compare a cask-conditioned sample against the bottled versions most likely being rated on BA, which would explain why my scores are higher than average.

I was familiar with this beer in the 1990s, primarily from bottles when I lived near the brewery while on a military assignment in the UK. Back then it was one of my favorites. I can't help thinking that it is disappointingly missing some malt character and is a lower ABV than it used to be, but that is based on my memory, not research.
Jul 22, 2022
Photo of MikeWard
Rated by MikeWard from Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +9.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
From June 10th at The Woodman. Excellent beer.
Jun 17, 2022
Photo of WoodBrew
Reviewed by WoodBrew from Ohio

3.46/5  rDev -5.5%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
I tried a pint of this beer off the cask'er at the pub at the Shrewsbury Hotel. It poured a clear amber with cask white head that left a fine lace. The scent had subtle bitter hop notes. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to drink with sweet malt base and the typical english bitterness through the drink. The mouthfeel was medium in body but with cask condition "carbonation". Overall it was a good beer.
Jun 05, 2022
 
Rated: 3.84 by heerboth from Pennsylvania

Feb 27, 2022
 
Photo of LordEvyl
Reviewed by LordEvyl from Canada (NL)

4.21/5  rDev +15%
look: 5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.75
Look: Nice copperish/reddish color, looks almost like an Irish red. Nice head at first, but it dissipates quicker than I would like.

Smell: fresh cut grass with some malt and fruity notes

Taste: nice and malty (the way I like my ESBs to be honest)

Feel: Light and smooth

I'll be honest, I first had this beer four years ago and didn't really like it, but I think I might have had a bad or expired can. Recently decided to try it again after my local NLC liqort store bought it back, and my opinion on this beer has changed since I first had it. Really nice overall ESB. Not my favorite by no means (that would be the ESB from Propeller in Nova Scotia, Canada) but overall a nice English bitter. Easy drinking as well. Would certainly buy it again.
Jan 23, 2022
 
Rated: 4.18 by LesDewitt4beer from Minnesota

Nov 09, 2021
Abbot Ale from Greene King / Morland Brewery
Beer rating: 83 out of 100 with 726 ratings