Brunel's Clifton Ale
Cottage Brewing Co. Ltd

Beer Geek Stats
From:
Cottage Brewing Co. Ltd
 
England, United Kingdom
Style:
English Bitter
ABV:
4.3%
Score:
Needs more ratings
Avg:
2.6 | pDev: 0%
Reviews:
1
Ratings:
1
Status:
Retired
Rated:
May 21, 2006
Added:
May 21, 2006
Wants:
  0
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
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Recent ratings and reviews.
Ratings by TheLongBeachBum:
Photo of TheLongBeachBum
Reviewed by TheLongBeachBum from California

2.6/5  rDev 0%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2
Presentation: One of four ever-rotating Guest Beers on sale at the Wakefield Labour Club (a.k.a. ‘The Red Shed’) during a recent trip back home to England.

Dark brown and black Pumpclip had the words ‘Brunel’s Clifton Ale’ in a rather boring looking text. Listed at 4.3%ABV. One of a range of special brews from Cottage to celebrate the fact that 2006 is the 200th Anniversary of the Master Engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Appearance: Amber body with a dark brown body. Fizzling head didn’t do much and seemed to vaporize. Disappointing looks overall, the beige head faded far too quickly, and despite being served with the aid of a sparkler, the conditioning seemed a little lacking, it was only 2 days old and a Firkin was fresh but it just seemed to lack life, a character of the beer rather than the cellar for sure.

Nose: Muddled mix of sweet malts, toffee and dare I say the dreaded “D”. Feint hints of boiled cabbage too, but you had to search and sniff hard to get those.

Taste: Sweet toffee and caramel malts. Overwhelming malts blend and a lingering sweetness which was annoying and stodgy, it wasn’t even balanced by anything. Heavy on the sweet malts with a burnt sugary trait in the finish. Average, and that's being kind.

Mouthfeel: Low carbonation and the “stodgy” sickly-sweet malt laden feel added to the depressing feel from the Clifton Ale. Thin body for a brew at 4.3%, which is at the higher end of most UK Real Ales. I expected more.

Drinkability: I struggled with the Pint that I had and even contemplated dumping the latter half but eventually gave in about 2/3rds the way through. I don’t think this beer was ’bad’ in any way, it just seemed to be a very poor effort overall.

Overall: I’m a fan of Cottage Brewery, but I wasn’t impressed with this one. The cask kicked about 2 hours after my Pint, but it most certainly wasn’t off/old, just not very appetizing, so I add the Review. A far from fitting tribute to I.K. Brunel. Underwhelming, to say the least.
May 21, 2006
Brunel's Clifton Ale from Cottage Brewing Co. Ltd
Beer rating: 2.6 out of 5 with 1 ratings