Ironside Best
Hampshire Brewery Ltd

A: A rusty burnt copper colour, not disimilar to iron bru. Had a small head which disipated quickly.

S: An abundance of piney and grapefruit smells followed by a sweet malty aroma. Finished nicely with a nose of present bitter hops.

T: Bitter sweet grapefruit and plums followed by bitter hop resins. The malty sweetness hangs aroung for a while, and is nicely undercut by the hops.

Overall this is a great easy drinking bitter, fantastic for any time of the year!

BB 20/05/09, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass.

A: pours a lightly carbonated, translucent, dark amber body with reddish hues, topped with a fluffy off-white head settling to a thin blanket.
S: much better now than before - the crystal/caramely malty base carries lively berry+citric-fruitiness of hops, leaving a touch of gristy+cocao malts well-hidden in the background; a swirl brings out salty-sweet fat prunes, ripe black plums, dates and a touch of raisins, while the aromatic edge of Styrian Golding hops simply lingers freely...
T: bitter-sour in taste and tannic in texture from the beginning... turning more powder-herbal bitter and pear-ish yeasty afterwards, echoed by a firm touch of the phenolic yeastiness typical for an Hampshire Brewery product; in the aftertaste, the sour-fruity tinge intertwines well with the slightly bitter burned malts. Rather chewy, tannic, and bitter in the end, albeit in an unstructured manner.
M&D: semi-lively and healthy on the carbonation, against a medium body of moderate flavour profile. The phenolic hint, just like most other Hampshire brews, comes a bit more pronounced than necessary, which can be better appreciated on cask than in bottles. That said, this bottle is much better than I remember from my previous one two years ago. I do have this strong impression that the brewery has done some considerable improvement for its bottle-conditioning line.

* Tasting Date: 02/02/06
Bottle-conditioned in a 500ml brown bottle. BBE 07/09/06, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass.

4 A: lightly hazy, pale amber hue, coming with an effervescent, creamy white beer head, fluffy and foamy, slowly breaking down, leaving pretty tight lacing; very tiny fizz constantly floats from the bottom of the glass.
3.5 S: citrus-fruit dominated nose, but mixed with an astringently tart, pineapple+starfruit like fruitiness, due to the rough yeasty body; flowery and slightly sweetish pale malts with a faint white-chocolatey touch sustains firmly in the background, resulting in a relatively balanced aroma overall.
3 T&2.5 M: astringently sour and yeasty upfront, gradually softening in favour of a bitter and hoppy main body with ve...ry light malty entry; the fruitiness on the nose is not so pronounced on the palate, leaving just a trace of bittering, dried citrus-peel hidden well at the back of the throat, and a flat-bodied, woody bitterness in the finish. Quite lively, lightly fizzy on the mouthfeel, but the body is overly light, without the support of a clear focus nor a balance b/w hops and malts.
2.5 D: a superb bitter when served fresh on cask, this bottle-conditioned interpretation seems to be off-balance in terms of body and flavour. As happened in many bottled beers by Hampshire, it has not succeeded again in their bottle-conditioning experiment on this presumably delicious drink, though it's not the worst on the list.

The colour is amber; the liquid is clear with lots of small bubbles. The low pale beige head leaves some lacing.

The smell is sour with some yeast and fruits. There is a good bitterness, too.

The first notes are sweet, but they are soon replaced by sour notes of fruit candy and a fresh yeasty note. The aftertaste is rather mild and short. Sour fruit drops, some toffee and a hint of sweetness.

The carbonation is mild; the liquid is smooth.

A pleasant bitter from a well kept cask. You cannot ask for much more can you?

Had this "real" ale compliments of the Englander pub here in Ca. This brew survived it's journey admirably. It was served in a proper pint glass and was a light amber in hue. Nice head retention and lacing was wispy. Aroma was heavily tilted to the malt end and was slightly toasted. Ultra smooth malty taste with a smidgen of flowery hops. If you had me blinfolded and threw in some British accents I would have thought I was back in real beer heaven. Nice solid mouthfeel and cask drinkability seals the deal. This pub was a great discovery, I will review it for you all as soon as it's approved.