Black Adder
Mauldons

 

 

Cask at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. Black colour (no surprise). Aroma of raisins, cigarbox and coffee. Surprisingly fruity flavour for a stout (=surprising if I hadn’t read the IBF programme), dark fruits on a background of espresso coffee and dusty roasted malts. Interesting beer!

Cask. Jet black with a dense creamy head. Lacing persists.
Meek aroma of toasted bread with hints of liquorice.
Roasted barley, digestive biscuits and balancing hops when sampled. Weak coffee bitterness.
Lovely soft cask conditioned feel.
A wonderfully well balanced stout.

 

 

12 Apr 2012: hand-pulled pint in my local Wetherspoons.

Black as the ace of spades with very little head showing, this looked a mean brew.

The aroma given off was of roasted, slightly burnt malts with a nutty feel (like an over cooked nut roast, that veggie’s eat).

Sweeter in the mouth than the nose: some caramel hints in with the malty nut roast.

Deep and thick bodied, couldn’t call it ‘rich’ or ‘creamy’, but certainly had a depth of flavour. An OK Stout.

On cask at the 2011 Belfast Beer Festival.

Smoky black with draught stout tan film. Smoke and sugar on the nose.
Latte, red berry, a slight roast bite, then a black coffee hit before earth and spice to end.
Dry linger. Soft, creamy, medium.

Camp coffee: sweet, smoky, chocolatey and smooth. Hugely balanced. A top stout.

Revisited this beer by half-pint at the Penderel's Oak, a JDW pub nr. Holborn tube station, Central London.

A: pours a very dark mahogany hue, with a thin layer of beige froth o nthe top.
S: roastiness, mild dark-chocolates, syrupy edge as of rum(?), light sweetness of black-sugar, hints of instant coffee, etc. all intertwined together...backed by an assertive tinge of dark fruits (ripe black plums) and herbs. Very nice, complex, yet moderate. Not at its prime, I think.
T: a colourful palate of bitter edge of treacles, roastiness of filtered coffee, sightly sour-sweet hint of cocoa beans upfront; a leather-ish and leafy bitterness along with slightly hoppy bitterness develop slowly, leaving sticky-textured plum+damson preserved-fruits behind. The lingering aftertaste shows moderately bitter roastiness, like aromatic bitterness as in dark-roast coffee, to soothe the whole palate just fine...
M&D: well-balanced, full-bodied, yet silky smooth... the lovely bitter-sweet aftertaste is the key to prolong the overall pleasure. Utterly drinkable, despite the fact that it's past the prime a little bit. When on form, this classic stout is as complex as easy-drinking. Can't wait to taste it on cask again!

Sampled on Cask at The Romsey Beer Festival in the New Forest, Hampshire UK. This is the only cask stout I tried in the UK, I was very excited to taste it.

The appearance is totally black with a nice, though shortlived, tan head and masses of lace. The aroma is a very subtle mix of chocolate and coffee with a nice bit of bitterness. The taste is a very delicately balanced mix of chocolate and coffee with some anise and nut flavors. A very soft tasting stout. Though it isnt bold and intensely roasty like some, its still very good in its own way. Definitely a highly quaffable beer.

Very tasty little cask conditioned stout. Rich chocolatey nose, with some licorice, raisins and a touch of smokyness. Palate covering, long bitter-ish finish, with some nice balanced acidity, some late lingering roastyness, very tasty. (Cask- ChelmsfordBF 03'

Available in limited license locations, this is a guest beer at Nicholson's in downtown Cincinnati. Dark as night and calm as a true cask-conditioned beer should be, the Black Adder is a wonderfully understated bitter stout. It presents a subtle, yet full nose that gives hints of its nutty flavor, yet is full of hop awareness that repeats in the taste. The taste is also very subtle, light in the front and building as the inky brew moves to the back. Everything is subtlety here; the flavor is complex and full yet not in-your-face due to the cask-conditioning, perhaps? This appears to be an eminently able session brew.

The Mauldons Website touts the awards given to Black Adder, most prominently its status as Champion Beer Great Britain 1991-1992. I would love to try the other beers from this brewery that dates its heritage to the Dickens era.