Golden Special Bitter
Holdens Brewery Limited

Brown 500ml bottle, best before the end of Dec 2010, drank and reviewed 25 Oct 2010.

Poured into an 'Abbots Ale' tankard, my current favourite UK pint tasting glass.

Light amber almost orange in colour with a white head that soon became a collar and lacing as the beer sank down the glass.

Mild malty aroma, fairly weak, even as the beer warmed.

A malt sweetness is evident initially in the taste, a hop bitterness however soon arrives to let you know this is a well balanced true English Bitter (not a Pale Ale as listed).

The alcohol content is fairly high for a UK bitter, hence the 'special' in the name. The 5.1% ABV is well hidden and the beer is easy and pleasant to drink.

Coming in a long-neck 500ml brown glass bottle. BB June 2008, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass.

A: pours a dark tawny colour with a short-lived, loosely-formed fluffy white head; the carbonation has basically large bubbles sporadically ejecting from the bottom of the glass just like rockets...
S: syrupy sweet & slightly caramely in pale malts, with timid orange-like citrus & floral notes to boot... the sweet side seems to overpower other elements, rendering a somewhat simplistic smell.
T: a citrus-fruity & floral taste of hops come along with a boiled-yum-like root-vegie taste of pale malts (due to pasteurisation I believe), while the faint biscuity elements slowly sneak through... The intensifying bitter aftertaste is earthy as well as slightly peppery, finished rather dry on the palate.
M&d: rather spritzy upfront, yet not overly fizzy overall; this is a med-bodied, moderately flavoured yet bitter strong pale ale that however would've worked much better on cask with a fresher taste of malts. That said, this bottle still shows a sound bitter profile for any Bitter-lover to enjoy.