Barnsey
Bath Ales Ltd

Sept. 2004: Cask conditioned at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004. Deep copper coloured. Roasted malts, fruit and chocolate. Flavourwise if fits in the gap between a premium bitter and a porter, proving that "styles" are not an accurate science. Good beer.

The colour is amber-brown, the liquid clear. The two-finger head is off-white and compact; it sinks down to a thin lid leaving no lacing.

The smell is very malty and worty, it reminds me of standing next to the boiler in a brewery. Some treacle, ripe red apples and a touch of floral hops.

The taste is less malty then the smell, fine bitter notes of dried flowers, hay and plums meats the roasted malt flavours of brown bread, molasses, Tootsie Roll and a hint of figs. Medium body. The aftertaste got some chalk and minerals, brown malt, chocolate toffee and a slight metallic bitterness. The finish is almost burned with some metal and brown bread.

The carbonation is mild to medium strong, the small bubbles short-lived. The liquid is medium smooth.

Something of a bottled version of the classic British “light and brown” mix. A bit too worty in the smell and a bit too metallic in the taste, though.

 

Nice surprise. A sensible ale from Bath.

 

 

Very malty for a self described bitter, feels closer to a brown, but with a lot of hop bitterness. I prefer hoppy beers, but this is pleasant for a change.

Dark for a bitter, but the flavor is right in the zone.Pours reddish/brown with creamy head, and nice coffee bitterness. Mouthfeel is just right, not watery. Listed on the label as a dark bitter, this is very pleasant....

 

 

 

 

500ml bottle poured into a pint glass

Look: Deep brown with ruby red highlights and no sign of haze or sediment. Fingers-width of tan/khaki head which gives way to a ring around the inside of the glass and a small amount of surface foam.

Smell: Plenty of malt, as you'd expect from an English bitter, along with some dark fruit notes as well. The bottle blurb mentions 'hints of chocolate' but there's nothing like that evident in the smell, at least initially.

Taste: There is a definite hint of dark chocolate in the taste, though, along with stewed, dark fruits. The whole thing tastes a bit like fruit cake with a hint of hops. There's plenty of maltiness - the grain bill mentions Maris Otter, Chocolate and Crystal malts and the only hop mentioned is Bramling Cross. Even so, this is as probably as 'traditional' as a bitter as you'll find.

Feel: A bit lifeless - there's very little in the way of carbonation although it'd be unfair to describe it as completely flat. Even so, it's quite tasty and very drinkable and given the malt-forward nature the carbonation, or lack thereof, isn't really a dealbreaker.

Overall: Not bad, not bad at all - it's a bitter in the 'English' sense rather than the 'IPA' sense so if you're looking for a hop bomb then you're most definitely in the wrong place. However, if you're fancying a good, old-fashioned bitter then you can't go far wrong with this, but if you're after something with a stupendously complex flavour profile you're better off looking elsewhere.