Old Ember
Highgate Brewery Ltd

 

Brown 500ml bottle, best before July 2010, drank and reviewed April 2010. Poured twice into a Gordon's Thislr shaped glass.

Deep dark brown/reddy colour with a good thick cream coloured head. The head produced some good lacing and managed to stay through the tasting.

Semi-sweet malty aroma, biscuits more than toast or bread, a light burntness/roasty feel to the smell.

The taste is half malt, half bitter hop (Fuggles and Progress are used). There is a tangy citrus (pink grapefruit?) feel as well.

Well carbonated, the alcohol can be felt but it doesn't rule the mouthfeel because the body is fairly rich and creamy.

Pleasant but no world beater.

It pours a nice rich dark cherry cola colour with ruby hints and nice carbonation that leaves a one finger head with sporadic lacing here and there,it has aromas of hazelnuts dipped in liquorice with some toffee,malty notes in the background,it has a nice full mouthfeel with big hints of aniseed,malty chocolate and some roasted hazelnuts and suprisinly enough finishes very silky smooth with a little hint of honeyish citrus,quite a nice balance between hops and malts here which makes this beer a pleasure to drink.

Appearance: mahogany, great clarity, narrow band of spongey tan foam, OK head retention

Aroma: rich maltiness with hints of hazelnut, chocolate, toffee, and licorice

Flavor: full malt sweetness, acidic edge, nutty, a touch of burnt caramel and honey; herbally hops, finishes semisweet with a hop-leaf aftertaste

Mouthfeel: medium body, mild carbonation, soft texture

Other comments: "Old Ember" is a perfect name for this warming, soothing ale.

500ml bottle bought from Tesco's as one of their Beer Challenge winners...

Poured a deep mahogany brown colour... Creamy tan head poured thick and rocky then faded quite quicky to nice thin layer... light carbonation... quite a lot of sticky lacing...

Aroma - Toasted caramel maltiness, chocolate hints, quite nutty - some hazlenut notes, some alcohol soaked fruit notes (prunes and raisins), malt loaf, honey / treacle sweetness, nice biscuitiness...

Taste – Quite spicy fruits although maybe a little watered down - hints of orange, raisins and some prunes. Treacle notes, peppery, some nutmeg / Christmas spices, nice strong roasted biscuity malts, nice hop bitterness, warming alcohol coming through, rich chocolate notes...

Feel - Quite smooth initially with some sharpness after... medium / full bodied... pretty drinkable...

Overall - A good example of a strong ale... a nice find in Tesco's.. Well worth a try...

Purchased at the Tesco supermarket, this bottled beer is one of their numerous "Beer Challenge Winners"... The beer label states it's not just a dark ale, but brewed with the addition of "the purest honey". BBE OCT 06, served cool in a pint-sized goblet.

A: beautiful dark-brown to mahogany hue, coming with an effervescent, off-white creamy beer head, slowly settling down to a thin, foamy layer; very low carbonation when seen against light.
S: toffeeish and creamy upfront, with lots of sticky barley candy and licorice-spice, rich aroma of sticky, caramelised plums and an intense touch of honey... in the background a fruity hoppyness sustains. Overall, very rich and enticing, a heavy-weight spicy-malty brew it is.
T: pretty smooth caramellic maltiness flows onto the palate with a toffeeish hint, slowly introducing an anise-spiciness and lightly roasted-bitter black malts at the back; a slightly warming fortified-wine texture sustains, backed by rum-soaked raisins, citrus-peel's bitterness, chocolatey aftertaste, and a pleasantly, mildly sour edge of dark fruits. The honey is mixed beyond recognition with complex flavours of various types of malts, adding perhaps just a dash of exotic sweetness in the blend. Brilliantly lingering herbal-medicinal bitter aftertaste with a somewhat sticky mouthfeel in the finish.
M&D: ever so smooth on the palate yet a good fizzy support is always there; this is a med-full-bodied and -flavoured ale but goes light and high~~ Having tried quite a few similar English winter ales this season, this one is surely distinctive, quite complex but easy to drink. Pretty good!!