Joshua Jane
Ilkley Brewery Co.

Pours a dark amber with fine, tan head.

Smell is malty and a bit sweet with notes of leather, citrus and toffee with some floral hints.

Taste is malty and a bit sweet with a solid bitterness. Notes of citrus, leather and dried fruit with some floral and mineral hints.

Mouthfeel is medium, but a little bit thin, with good carbonation.

Overall, a very nice bitter, would like some more body.

 

Served cold from 500ml bottle into pint mug.

L) Attractive red-copper colour, clear, initially white 1cm dense head, fades very quickly to a bubbly film.

S) Warm biscuity malt and English hops.

T) Bitter hop notes first up, more or less balanced with a warm malt flavour.

F) Cleanish mouthfeel with a lingering hint of bitterness.

O) A good bitter, would recommend this one.

A very sensible beer. Balanced with nothing predominating. Hints of treacle flapjack with just the right amount of bittering. Nice mouth feel. Comforting. Pretty full bodied for a relatively low alcohol content. Good session beer and has a place.

Rich chestnut coloured body with fairly thick tan head
The aroma is like running a fine cigar under your nose
there is caramel there in the flavour and once again a good whack of top quality tobacco
with the huge flavours and nose the mouthfeel seems really flimsy

I could see people loathing this with the big cigar aspect, I love it
verging on a new classic brown ale IMHO

500ml bottle poured into a pint glass

Look: Looks like a good, old traditional English bitter - deep, coppery brown with a big, off-white head. The head settles down after a couple of minutes, leaving behind a modest amount of lacing on the glass.

Smell: Best described as 'subdued' - you really need to get your nose into this to pick anything up. When you do, there's plenty of nutty, roasted malts, hints of caramel and a certain amount of fruit and yeast. Not much in the way of hop character, but otherwise plenty going on.

Taste: Rather like the smell but a bit more up-front - plenty of malt and caramel characters up front, not to mention some floral and herbal hoppiness followed by an astringent, earthy tidal wave of bitterness.

Feel: Not at all bad for a 'low' ABV beer - decent body and carbonation and a nice, astringent bitterness in the finish. Quite a good transition from sweet/malty to bitter, although some might find the astringence a bit offputting.

Overall: Yep, this has all the characteristics of a 'traditional' Yorkshire bitter - low ABV, good body and a nice, astringent aftertaste although at times it feels like the malts and hops are battling it out for dominance. Eminently sessionable at 3.7%, too. Worth a try for the brown ale fans.

 

I had previously been really impressed with the one & only beer I'd had from Ilkley Brewing, so had been looking forward to this bottle. It pours a decent looking brown ale with a brown head. It tastes of caramel but after that it was down hill.. the bitterness was far to strong for me. A mixture of US & New Zealand hops according to the bottle label. I just know that it was a hard 500ml to get through.

A 500ml bottle with a BB of Oct 2014. Picked up a while back from a supermarket. The label describes it as a nut-brown Yorkshire bitter hopped with Galena, Amarillo and Columbus.

A: Poured into a tulip pint glass. A deep coppery-brown hue with medium carbonation. Yields a decent head of creamy off-white foam that lasts for a few minutes before reducing to a patchy surface layer. Slight lacing.

S: Aroma of grainy malt with hints of caramel, nuttiness, fruity ale yeast, floral hops, grass/hay, earthiness and husks. Not particularly hoppy.

T: Tastes of caramel malt with a dry, bitter finish. Notes of grain, caramel, nuttiness, subtle biscuits, floral hops, grass/hay, ale yeast, earthiness and stewed hops. A twinge of caramel sweetness in the background but otherwise well attenuated. A spiky, hoppy bitterness upon swallowing.

M: Mouthfeel is smooth, tingly and dry, with pleasant carbonation and good body for the strength. Lightly astringent, accompanied by an aftertaste of bitter hops, husks/cardboard and a hint of caramel.

O: A decent ale with a satisfying bitterness. Looks good, though the aroma is somewhat subdued and uninspiring. The flavour is a shade better, with a blend of caramel malt and bittering hops duking it out. Pleasant body. Goes down OK; for me personally I just find it vaguely unsatisfying. Perhaps it's my dislike of brown ales - I prefer Ilkley's other offerings. Don't let that put you off; worth sampling if you come across it.

 

 

500ml bottle bought from Lighthouse Wines, Jordanstown

Poured a nice deep coppery orange colour... Slightly off white head poured quite thick and foamy and faded to very thin layer... little or no lacing...

Aroma - Light toffee malts, fruity (oranges, raisins, grapefruits), nutty sweetness, grassy, spicy hops, biscuity / bready notes...

Taste – Juicy fruits (oranges, lemons, grapefruits), light toffee malts, some honey sweetness, nutty... everything mabe just lacking a little depth...

Feel - Pretty smooth. Light bodied. Very drinkable - would make a good session beer...

Overall - A pretty good bitter... Definitely worth a try...

 

I had this bitter from cask at the Craven Arms' beer festival in Appletreewick, North Yorkshire.

It is named after Mary Jane's suitor, ont' Iklka Moor bar t'at

Light brown in color, malty with spicy hops from Amarillo and Columbus, it definitely was a hoppier English bitter, very drinkable