Old Empire
Marston's Plc.

It poured a golden color with a white head that dissipated to almost nothing.
A small amount of lacing
Aroma is grassy and citrus.
Taste is grassy, lemony citrus.
Very acceptable, but would never be a favorite.

 

 

 

500 ml clear bottle, courtesy of Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 5.7%. Deep golden colour, moderate white head that does not last very long. Moderate but nice hoppy (Cascade and Goldings) aroma, hints of toffee too. Fizzy mouthfeel. The flavour has noticeable Goldings and Fuggles hops and some caramel, moderately bitter finish. Okay, but not particularly interesting.

$2.00 on a discount rack so I said what the hell. No bottle date unfortunately.

Looks turbid as hell. Aggressive pour yields little frothy head.

Smell is pure skunked and then some butterscotch or cream corn. Smell extremely similar to Corona but more potent. Strangely, I actually like a bit of skunkiness at times so im not entirely off put by this.

Tastes NOTHING like an ipa. There are almost no detectable hops initially. Its all grainy-ness. As you finish it theres some grassyness you pick up on as the hops finally present themselves.

Feel is nowhere near as flat as it looks.

Overall a pretty terrible beer. I wish i knew if it were intended to taste as it does or if its solely a victim of time and light.

De color dorado con un dedo de espuma blanca de buena retención. Ligera y de carbonatación media. Aroma lupulado. Sabor ligeramente dulce con un final cítrico.

Old Empire is delicious mix of malt and citrus. It's a cross between Amber ale and IPA. Goes really well with food - particularly streak or burgers but also curry surprisingly - much better than Cobra or Kingfisher.

L: Pale orange, faint head. Pretty good. The bottle is modern-vintage, but I could've done without the elephant.
S: European hops (peppery, grassy), caramel malt.
T: Following the nose. Good hops kick with a supporting malty backbone. A bit of caramel sweetness at the end.
F: Moderate body, dry finish. Medium carbonation. Good and in style. Perhaps a bit too filling, I was left wishing it came in a 33 cl bottle instead of 0.5 l.
O: Very good English IPA.

A no nonsense and quite malty traditional English ale, the bottled version I had was very carbonated but give it a few minutes and it settles down. On opening the bottle I did notice a stale smell but this disappears and is not noticeable when tasting. A powerhouse of an ale I’ll definitely be buying again!

A 20 day old bottle

Pours a very light amber, large head for an english ale, many bubbles too.

Aroma of apples, pear drops, green hops.

Taste is a pleasing mix of mainly english hops and malt, decent bitterness, great dryness body and lots of carbonation that works in this beer. Fair bit of minerality as you would expect but it isn't too much.

Marstons do make good beers from time to time and this is one if you get it as fresh as this. Really nice cask beer too IIRC.

 

 

L- Dark amber, clear, pours with 5mm white head.
S- Almost hints of herbal cannabis*, and I smell it from the moment I pop the cap. Other than that it's smell seems pretty low-key.
T- Fresh and somewhat dry, the flavour develops a second later, ending with some richness. It's quite toasty [roasted malts], pretty bitter but it is a good example of a traditional IPA, rather than a contemporary interpretation of the style which tend towards being over-hopped, to over very over-hopped, in my experience.
F- It is refreshing, and has a certain deep pungent feel that in a blind tasting I'd guess this was more that 5.7%, maybe around 6.5% or so.
O- Very nice, especially you are a fan of British IPA. It is perhaps just a little more hoppy that I'd be routinely buying, esp in mid-winter when my palate yearns richness before refreshing via dry/hops.
BB 30/9/19. Bought from Waitrose, Notting Hill Gate, London W2.

p.s The bottle appears to have really changed! The glass is now very dark brown vs the photo embedded above. The lable is most black background, with white, purple and gold detailing. An elephant pushing three barrels, vs the ship seen above. The lable states 'Old Empire IPA' vs 'Empire' in the image above. Google suggests it did change name in recent years.

*Not as far-fetched as it might sound, x-ref: Wikipedia 'Cannabaceae is a small family of flowering plants... including Cannabis (hemp, marijuana), Humulus (hops)'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice clear-brown colour, medium head.
The small is pretty common.
The taste is dominated by a standard english ale bitterness and a metallic feel. The citrus feel given by the multiple hops used can only be found on the bottle advertising.
Nothing to really stand out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From bottle, pours a ever so slightly hazey golden colour with a small white head that disapates to a small layer.
Aroma grains, citrus, lemon, toffee.
Taste toffee, grassy, lemon. Not to bad.

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a finger of head on a hazy straw body.
The aroma is honey, pine and dry grains.
The taste is malty sweet, then dry lemon bitterness and earthy too.
The texture is softer with nice fizz.
It's a fine mellow brew.