The Full English
Black Heart Brewery

Pours an amber colour, fair bit of haze in the glass. Cream-coloured head, foamy with decent retention. Looks great.

Grainy malt notes on the nose, touch of English toffee and a weird hint of possibly banana. Very English, in the sense of 'not giving anything away'. But decent.

Slight cereal grain on the front of the palate, some fruity notes as well then gets into slight sourdough character, cedar wood, herbal and grassy. Bitter, English. Pretty decent.

Good body, smooth and fluid. Nice.

Yeah, actually pretty good as a cleanser. Not really big and Burtonised like I expect from an English IPA but a very nice beer.

Tried on-tap at the GABS festival in Melbourne.

Pours a bright orange colour, with hints of raspberry juice in it. Decent hazing through the solid body, which refracts the light pleasantly. Head is yellow, full and rich that leaves solid lacing. Body is undercarbed, which matches the style nicely. Looks good.

Nose is immediately very English: earth, sweaty hops with some caramel (or slightly darker malt). Leather comes through along with a rich rounded sweetness. It's all very well integrated. I like it a lot.

Light entry on the front palate with some peachskin earthiness and a herbal hop character. The earthiness continues through the middle and back, but surprisingly there's not much sweetness. Fortunately, it has some good body to back it up and cushion the hops, meaning that it could well just be hop-forward. Finish is rather light, but spicy with the tingling, retreating hops.

Feel is extremely smooth.

I really liked this. It's full, but smooth and supple. It has a richness to it that's very seriously understated. Much like the English themselves.