Hobson's Choice
City Of Cambridge Brewery Company Limited

500ml Brown bottle, best before the end of May 2012, poured into a UK pint sleeve July 2011.

Lovely bright, light amber/orange body, clean and clear. On top a snow white foaming head.

Good hoppy smell, both floral and citrusy spicey. No malt aromas, but I found hints of yeast esters within those hop smells.

The flavours within the taste were a blend of various hops and unobtrusive malts which came together very, very well.

The body appears a little watery, but this isn't a strong UK beer and it can be allowed to have a thin-ish depth of body. It doesn't take away any of it's drinkability one iota.

Would love to try this in cask form if I ever come across it, I will.

A - Pours a clear light amber with a half inch of head, which falls immediately. Large bubble cling to the glass

S - Perfumed, floral hops, grapefruit, lemon, nuttiness, grass. A pleasant surprise after the letdown of the appearance.

T - Refreshing light hoppiness runs through the length of the drink. The noted smells are all in there at some point. Delicate flavour. Nothing better than average

M - Very thin and light with moderate to high carbonation.

D - Very average. There are much better pale ales around.

Picked up last week at the Cambridge Wine Merchants, Cambridge. Bottle-conditioned, 500ml brown bottle, BB 04/07, served cool in a straight imperial-pint glass.

A: bright, dark straw colour, coming with an effervescent creamy white beer head with superb retention; very lively carbonation by the standards of British bottled beers.
S: upon cracking open the beer a flow of dried grassy hint expands in the air, even like some macro-lagers! Taking a deep sniff, the whole hoppy presence manifests itself: refreshing lemony and orangey hops (like Challengers), lightly earthy, stinky hint of Fuggles, hop resins, on top of an enticing layer of nutty+biscuity+faintly caramelly malts; nicely executed nose, quite refreshingly hoppy and approachable.
T: a lively-textured, lightly grassy/hayish+citric hoppy flavour abounds, followed closely by a little salty and piney hint of yeasts and a flow of deeply nutty malt aftertaste, gradually taken over by a dryish and tangy bitterness massaging the rear end of the tongue...
M&D: reasonably lively on the mouthfeel and soft on body, this pale ale shows a healthy balance. All in all, a quality pale ale to quench the thirst, but I expect the cask-conditioned form to be much better to live up to its reputation as a multiple-award winner (as shown on the label: 1997 Local Champion beer, 1998 GBBF Olympia Finalist, 1999 English Ale Award).

Golden, clear.
Head nice and large, with irregular shape.
Very fruity taste - quite refreshing, nice hoppy bitter after taste. Definitely worth buying again. I bought this at a farm shop near my house, and I've never seen it before. I have no idea what the production scale is, but I'd guess it's a microbewery.