by Scottish & Newcastle Breweries
This beer is a bit of an English icon, and I’m sure a bunch of you will have had this beer before. But indulge me a little as I hadn’t sampled one of these for many years as nostalgia got the better of me and I ordered some for our packs.
It was originally brewed in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1927, though it is now brewed at the John Smith brewery in Tadcaster following a few sales and mergers.
Originally a blend of two distinct beers – a strong dark beer and a lower alcohol amber ale, after three years of development it became one of the UK’s most distinctive English Brown Ales. Brewed with a combination of English Pale and Dark Caramel malts, it has a low bitterness and a fairly light body. Interestingly, the beer used to get much of its colour from caramel colouring but this was removed in 2015 ‘for health reasons’!
As alluded to above, the beer pours a dark caramel colour (now all from the roasted and caramel malts), with a reasonably soft aroma hinting at malt and a little fruit.
There is an early caramel malt sweetness with a little dried fruit note. The bitterness is low, just enough to balance the sweetness. It is quite easy drinking, but does have enough flavour to make it interesting til the end.
