Bellfield Dark Sky Porter

 

This is a beautiful dark and fruity porter from Scottish brewers, Bellfield.  It's very dark, almost black, and it has a small, loose and rapidly vanishing tan head.

It has a mouthwatering aroma of roasted malt, treacle, chocolate and coffee with a hint of juicy red fruit.  It tastes as good as it smells too; it's sweet and fruity with notes of chocolate, treacle and caramel with an unusual and interesting coffee and tangy berry finish.

With low but firm carbonation and a full body, it has a smooth but tingly mouthfeel that made it really pleasant to drink.

It's a lovely fruity porter with a delicious sweetness that reminded me of candied fruit.  I have a sweet tooth so I really liked it and Ale Be Seeing You again.

Brewed by Bellfield Brewery, Edinburgh
4% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 4/5

Find out more at Bellfield Brewery

Purity Pure UBU

Pure UBU definitely looks like my kind of ale: a deep amber, molten toffee coloured ale with a very very tight thick beige head.  That's what I call a perfect looking pint.

There's quite a lot going on in the unusual aroma; I could smell hops and malt at first then hints of sweet spice, ginger and fruity banana.  It smells very fresh and appetising so I couldn't wait to dive in for a taste.  My first impression is that it's reminiscent of a proper old fashioned bitter; quite light in flavour initially followed by the most intense metallic kick.  I do prefer metallic over citrus bitterness but this was a little too heavy metal for me.

It's quite thin bodied with medium carbonation but the head is amazing.  It's very thick and doesn't seem to lose a millimetre of it's height whilst still managing to thickly lace the glass.

Pure UBU is a decent amber ale that will appeal to bitter fans who like their bitter to taste of copper coins rather than lemon squeezy washing up liquid.

Brewed by Purity Brewing, Warwickshire
4.5% ABV

My rating:

Find out more at Purity Brewing

Wadworth Treacle Treat

Wadworth's Treacle Treat looks like my kind of beer!  It's a deep mahogany red/brown colour with a tight but small beige head.

It scores full marks for aroma with mouthwatering smells of treacle (naturally), burnt caramel, sweet molasses, dark fruit and malt.  I couldn't wait to dive in but unfortunately the mouthwatering aromas weren't replicated in the taste.  It has a flavour of caramel, burnt toffee and slight citrus bitterness but I couldn't detect any treacle at all.  It was so disappointing that it didn't quite live up to, not only my expectation, but its very name.  

Watery and thin-bodied, it has average carbonation and the bitterness even tasted kind of soapy.  Although by no means a bad beer, it was very disappointing based on what I expected it to be.  It's definitely a Halloween beer and I think I've been tricked as I definitely wasn't treated to any treacle 😢.

Brewed by Wadworth, Wiltshire 
4.2% ABV

My rating:

Find out more at Wadworth Brewery

Greene King IPA

I loved the colour of this one but unfortunately that's all I loved.  It's a beautiful copper toffee colour but it has a very loose head that disappeared in a matter of seconds.  It also has a very strange aroma: at first it is hoppy and metallic but then it reminded me of smelly stagnant water, like I often experience with Shepherd Neame ales.

It tastes a little bit malty, quite fresh and with a bitter aftertaste.  I was surprised that there was no hint of citrus as you would normally expect with an IPA, making me think that this should be labelled as a bitter rather than an IPA.  Despite its flat appearance the carbonation is quite harsh and it was an overall disappointing experience.

Brewed by Greene King, Bury St Edmunds

3.6% ABV

My rating:

Find out more at Green King