Pitfield's Christmas Ale
Pitfield Organic Brewery

Tasted by a pint at the Piglet 2 mini-beerfest., Leyton Orient Supporter's Club, East London, 24/02/06. According to the festival staff, the beer is 2003 vintage and aged for three years now. Gravity-dispensed from the barrel.

A: murky copper-ish hue, without any trace of beer head... looking quite flat actually--I suppose it's natural for a 3-year barrel-aged beer?!
S: wow... complex, spicy yet ever so smooth at the same time: clove, cinnamon-powder, wood-smoked prunes... almost like the Chinese smoked-prune tea infused with an extra pack of mulled-wine spice!! The softer aroma of other elements stays quietly underneath, so the aroma is not sharply spicy.
T: clove and ground nutmeg along with an herbal touch of mint prevail on the palate, underlined by a very flat-bodied malty base... the mixed herbal-sweet+spicy+malty overtone dominates the flavour and is slightly over-powering, yet enough room is left for a cleaner aftertaste of hops and prune-ish dried fruits to take over after the mid-taste.
M&D: exceptionally smooth and quite mellow--on the edge of being slightly static actually, because of three-year ageing in the barrel I suspect. But the overall impression of this 2003 vintage changes my opinion of this beer, as my bottle-conditioned 2005 vintage was consumed within one month of release--simply too young to be nice~~ What a spicy feast it is on cask!!

355 mL brown bottle, capped. "Ingredients include malt, hops, yeast, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger." Brewed 2003. Best before Dec. 2007.

This ale poured a hazy copper color with very tall, fluffy, off-white foam that settled slowly and clung to the glass. There was a steady carbonation from the bottom of the glass. The smell was malty with some citrus, cinnamon, and ginger. The taste was sweet and very spicy: ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg. There was a good malty backbone. The hops were there but were hard to find under all the spices. The mouthfeel was smooth and a bit warming. The body was medium-full with moderate carbonation. The sweet spices lingered on the palate. This was a nice beer for a cold winter evening, though perhaps a bit heavy on the ginger.

Made with "Muscovado" sugar (British dark, wet molasses sugar), dates, ginger, cinnamon.
Colour: dark chestnut brown.
Nose: heated wet brown sugar, burnt sugar, carboline, candyfied orange. Absolutely off-putting!
Taste: surprisingly flat for its style. There's a lot of caramel, some spices (after a while, the ginger is identifyable), and a flavour reminding of Mandarine Napoléon).
Mouthfeel quite chewy. "Muscovado" sugar lingers on. Would get reasonnable rating, if it weren't for this impardonnable smell.