Jet Black
City Of Cambridge Brewery Company Limited

Got this bottle at the Cambridge Wine Merchants in Cambridge City, where the whole range of City of Cambridge's bottled beers are available. Bottle-conditioned in a 500ml brown bottle, BBE Nov 2006, served cool in a straight imperial-pint glass.

A: extremely dark brown, coming with a moderate fluffy, beige-hued beer head with o.k. retention; carbonation status unknown.
S: mildly sour-sweet dark fruits abound: black plums, slightly artificial lemon-syrup, faintly red-winey plus a touch of dried grass, while the dark malts play the second fiddle and well-hidden behind the fruity theme.
T: watered-down flavour of roasted/dark malts, plus a bitter touch of black sugar and faint roast nuts, with little fruity input in contrast to the nose apart from a touch of red grape-skins and woody hint of hops... leading fast to a dry-ish and tangy palate which manifests and overwhelms the whole palate towards the end--overall, showing more lively mouthfeel than flavour.
M&D: quite thin-bodied, straight-forward, and extremely light on the palate, but not disappointing for a 3.7%abv. mild. An easy-drinking but rather bland mild. Might be better on cask?

Cask conditioned at the 32nd Cambridge Beer Festival, gravity dispense. Black (= VERY dark brown) colour. Some natural carbonation, zesty, very nice. Pleasant roasty aroma. Flavour has dark chocolate, walnuts and roast barley. Not overdone, easy drinking.