Pitfields 1830 Amber Ale
Pitfield Organic Brewery

Purchased at the Pitfield Beer Shop on its last day of business, late January 2006. Bottle-conditioned, 500ml brown bottle, BB 05/2008, served cool in a straight imperial-pint glass.

A: dark chestnut brown colour with ruby glows, slightly hazy; the foamy beer head settles quite fast, on top of a constantly lively/hyper carbonation.
S: a slightly rough, sour-sweet fruity notes (cranberries, raspberries...) on top of a nutty maltiness with an edge of melted brown sugar, coated with assertively funky and musty yeastiness; I don't think it's been aged like an old ale, but as BSF mentioned earlier, the old ale's mark is vaguely there.
T: an astringently-textured, fruity flavour (raisins+berry-fruits) dominates the palate, quickly leading to a mildly caramely maltiness deprived of its supposed sweet edge, albeit with some bitterness lingering at the back; a soothing flow of musty, funky yeasty aftertaste turns a little dry on the sides of the tongue, leaving a somewhat sour finish.
M&D: thin-ish mouthfeel, and the fizziness proves overdone vis-a-vis the medium-minus body, rendering an unbalanced performance. Definitely not the best across the board in Pitfield's "Historic Ales", but if it's brewed to an original recipe from 1830, who am I to complain? A rather rough ale, though, and it's not my cup of tea.

The colour is dark amber-brown; the very low head is pale. Some lacing. The liquid is a little bit cloudy (the beer is bottle conditioned).

The smell is very sweet with notes of treacle, caramel, coca cola, some malt and fruity hops (sweet apples, raisins, cherries). The malt seems to be a bit roasted. Interesting stuff.

The taste is earthy and roasted. Not much of the sweetness that the smell proposed. The body is also surprisingly weak. There are salty notes of raisins, dark rum, flowery hops, and some bitterness. The medium aftertaste is salty and somewhat bitter with matured notes of rum and Madeira.

The carbonation is strong with medium sized bubbles. The mouthfeel is kind of watery.

A different ale, but I thought it was a bit unbalanced and… unprofessional: It tasted much more like an OK homebrew than an beer from a good microbrewery.

Have taken a liking to this nice brew from Pitfields since I moved in around the corner from Pitfields Brewery and the Beer shop, it's hard to walk past without buying a bottle or two!

The beer pours a wonderful dark amber, once dropping my nose to the glass the aroma's take hold, fruity and stong. The taste resembles the smell, as said in the previous review not to be knocked back too fast, always nice to have one in the fridge!