Chimera Dark Delight
Downton Brewery Company

Dark ruby with a dense, off-white head. Creamy roast malts scent; citrusy, fruity hops, light raisin-like scent, a bit of biscuits.

Dry malts in the taste, biscuits and some plum and raisins. Citrus from the hops. Nice, solid medium carbonation. A bit bitter, but a nice beer. I thought this was initially a mild, but the raisin and plum profile are more typical of old ales.

This bottle-conditioned version comes in a 500ml brown bottle, BB 19/06/09, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass. This bottled version was the Finalist in the Tesco Beer Challenge in 2004, and is brewed with Avon Valley Water, Malted Barley, Maize, Challenger & East Kent Golding, Pioneer and Organic Fuggles Hops... sounds interesting indeed.

A: very dark, russet brown in colour, with clear mahogany glows when seen against light, while the creamy dark beige froth retains the texture and thickness very well - overall looking superb for a Real Ale in a Bottle (RAIB).
S: lightly sour dark fruits with a grapey hint backs up the main theme mixed of aromatic sweet coffee, cocoa, and roast nutty maltness, while a swirl gives rise to an earthy aroma of English hops. Integrated on the aroma and pretty settled overall, not as "stale"-sour as one might expect from an "old" ale though.
T: a lightly sour-sweet entry of dark fruits comes first, so smoothly textured but never without the support of microscopic carbonation; the foretaste is soon overwhelmed by an intensifying wave of herbally-bitter hops, toasted bitter nuts, and burned/dark malts with both sour-ish coffee and dark chocolate hints; the dry herbal and almost woody palate of hop bitterness soon takes over and expands freely into the four corners of the palate, leaving an utterly, almost "tongue-plucking-ly" bitter aftertaste that is as roasted malty as dry-hoppy, occasionally laced by random aromas like dried citrus peels and roughly ground coffee beans likely from burned malts.
M&D: this interpretation of Old Ale is fantastically hop-bitter and dry (I suspect dry-hopping was the reason), far more so than one's usual suspect that might have shown a slightly more stale-ale like sour/lactic edge. But what really keeps my interest overall is the ever-so-soft palate and a light-ish body, contrasting the heavily bitter palate in a skilful way almost like a cup of "Chinese herbal medicine soup". It was remarkable on cask as I've experienced, and this RAIB version surely fails to disappoint if one fancies a "modern old ale" that is unreservedly hop bitter...

Dark mahogany, with ruby edges. Almost no foam.
Malty smell, a iìhint of choclolate, some fruitiness, grape.
A full maltiness in the taste, with english hops, again a hint of chocolate, and again grapes.
The hop si more strong in the aftertaste, where it leaves a good bitterness, with peppery notes.
After a while, some powdery cocoa.