Old Goat
The Great Yorkshire Brewery

A 500ml bottle with a BB of July 2012, so it's a little out of date. Hopefully for such a strong ale it won't have aged too badly. Acquired from Gluggles in York. Described on the label as a pale bitter with a malty flavour and a hint of citrus. Bottle conditioned.

Poured into a tulip pint glass. A hazy orange-amber colour with low carbonation. Forms a large head of creamy white foam that lasts for a few minutes before subsiding. Aroma of sweet, fruity malt with notes of hot, solventy booze, brown sugar and dried fruit. A notable metallic hint was initially present, though this faded away after a few minutes.

Tastes of astringent fruity malt with a powerful alcoholic flavour. It's as if someone threw vodka into this brew. Notes of yeast esters, brown sugar, caramel, dried fruit and harsh stewed hops. Some bitterness upon swallowing, but the finish is dominated by a hot, strident boozy character. Mouthfeel is smooth, spicy and full-bodied, but dry and unpleasantly astringent. Aftertaste of alcohol/solvent and fruitiness.

Verdict: not good. This is really boozy, and the remaining flavour/aroma just doesn't stand up to it. The character lacks dimension; it has the malty, yeasty fruitiness that you would expect from a strong ale but none of the depth. Nuance and rounded flavour are missing, while the booze just kills it. A hint of alcohol goes down well in a strong beer, but too much detracts greatly. Even though the bottle is a tad old, I don't reckon a well made 8% ale would have deteriorated so much. It's just bad - spend your money on something else.

A: Pours hazy amber with a medium-sized tan head that sinks into nice lace.

S: Rather mild smell for this styel. Some sweet malt and fruit. A metallic off-smells lures in the back.

T: Sweet syrupy malt. Fruits. Alcholic. Boiled ham.

M: Aftertaste is short. Body is mdium and carbonation quite offensive. Alcoholic.

O: This was a dissapointment, I've hoped for more. This isn't very well crafted or the bottle conditioning was a bad idea...

pours cloudy dark amber orange with lots of sediment and a 1+ finger head that left lacing down the glass

smells of booze and fruity malts

taste is very sweet (cloying) this beer is all malt and booze

mouthfeel - medium body good carbonation but a tad sticky

drinkability fails right along with the taste - i drank about half and the drain got the other half

Cropton Old Goatr used to be one of the best beers out there in my opinion.

Cropton brewery have recently started mass-producing for the large supermarkets. This has resulted in them lowering the quality of their beers by substituting real hops for synthetic chemical essences. The result of this is immediately obvious especially in its inferior taste with a false sweetness lingering behind the after-taste.

Real beer should be really real,
not pretend real!

Courtesy of Rich, who kindly bought this ale for me from a local market in Wakefield, several weeks ago. The beer label specifies that this is a Strong Bitter, but at 8%abv. my hunch is that it borders a Barley Wine, but we'll see. Coming in a long neck 500ml brown bottle, bottle conditioned; BB 26/07/2008, served cool in a large tulip-shaped wine glass.

A: murky light amber in colour, with a fluffy off-white beer head, and low carbonation.
S: peach & exotic fruit syrup, powdery as well as syrupy malts, sour-ish musty hints from yeasts... all scattering around, as a result of not very successful bottle-conditioning.
T: rounded pale malts and floral hoppiness come upfront, quite juicy and sour-sweet with hints of pear-blossom honey and citrus-ness; behind this harmonious facade, the yeastiness still gives out an astringent tartness lurking behind. No feel of alcohol what-so-ever, and bitterness is restrained, albeit given an herbal edge.
M&D: very mild and soft on the texture thanks to very little carbonation at presence, while the alc. strength hides just too well; that said, overall this potentially lovely ale suffers from bad bottle-conditioning, like several other Cropton ales that are all tainted with tired and astringent yeastiness. Gotta try it on cask some day...