Beer review: Robinsons Old Tom (8.5% England: Robinsons)

The Robinsons Old Tom is an ale, more specifically an Old Ale. It's brewed by a British family-run regional brewery Robinsons. Robinsons was founded in 1838 and produces about 4,2 million litres annually. The Robinsons Old Tom has been brewed for over a 100 years and has received several awards, most notably it's been voted the World's Best Ale at the World Beer Awards in 2009.

Taste: The Robinsons Old Tom is a full-bodied ale with a sophisticated and mature flavor. It starts with some dried fruits, then moves on to aromas of bittersweet chocolate, toasty malt and smokiness. The beer finishes with a slight bitterness and some barley wine taste with some alcohol warmth in it.

Overall, The Robinsons Old Tom is a very mature beer. It offers a wide variety of aromas and is best when enjoyed slowly and with care. The beer offers a demanding amount of flavors and might be a bit too demanding for the casual drinker. Personally I don't enjoy the barley wine finish since alcohol is a bit too present. However, it definitely is a truly remarkable beer!

90 Exceptional

Beer review: Fuller's London Porter (5.4% England: Fuller's Brewery)

The Fuller's London Porter is an Ale, more specifically a Porter. It's brewed by Fuller's Brewery, a medium-sized British independent brewery located in Chiswick, London. The company was founded in 1845 and currently produces about 26 million liters annually. The Fuller's London Porter is widely regarded as the World's Finest Porter: having won awards all over the world, London Porter is regularly voted the number one Porter on beer websites such as www.ratebeer.com. Sounds really promising!

Taste: The Fuller's London Porter is a medium/full-bodied beer with a very sophisticated and mature taste. It starts with the flavor of brown bread with notes of caramel and faint notes of sweet fruit. This is followed by a roasted, quite sweet bready flavor and the beer finishes with some chocolate, roasted coffee, smoky aromas and a faint hoppiness.

Overall, the Fuller's London Porter is an excellent beer. I'm personally into Porters and Stouts but they're easily a bit too overwhelming and demand quite a lot from the drinker. Therefore, it's easy to understand the world-wide popularity and fame of the Fuller's London Porter: it's the easiest Porter that I've ever tasted. It's easy to enjoy and yet it offers a very wide range of sophisticated and mature aromas. It's an excellent stepping-stone into the more demanding world of Imperial Stouts, which in the eyes of many beer connoisseurs are the ultimate taste experiences in these types of beer. To put it short, the Fuller's London Porter is the best porter I've ever tasted!

95

Beer review: Fuller's Organic Honey Dew (5.0% England: Fuller's Brewery)

The Fuller's Organic Honey Dew is an ale, more specifically a honeyed blond ale. It's brewed by Fuller's Brewery, a medium-sized British independent brewery located in Chiswick, London. The company was founded in 1845 and currently produces about 26 million liters annually.

Taste: The Fuller's Organic Honey Dew is a medium-bodied beer with a sweet honey-dominant flavor. The beer is very sweet (a bit too sweet to my taste) and the honey flavor overrides the faint aromas of sweet malt. The beer finishes with a faint hoppiness and dryness.

Overall, the Fuller's Organic Honey Dew is a really honey-dominant beer so if you're into that, this is definitely the right choice of beer for you. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of honey, although I don't hate it either. The beer became overly sweet really quick and since it doesn't offer much else, it was a slight disappointment. However, if you're looking for a sweet nectar-like beer, this might be your choice.

60 Above average

Beer review: Little Valley Withens Pale Ale (3.9% England: Little Valley Brewery)

The Little Valley Withens Pale Ale is a pale ale, more specifically a Golden Ale/Blond Ale. It's brewed by the Little Valley Brewery, a small British brewery located in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. The brewery was founded in 2005 and uses 100% organic ingredients.

Taste: The Withens Pale Ale is a medium-bodied beer with a bitter, hop dominant taste. It has a faint malty aroma but mainly focuses on a spicy, citric, grassy and orange hoppy bitterness. The aftertaste of the beer is quite bitter and exceptionally lemony.

Overall, the Withens Pale Ale is an interesting beer. It offers a surprisingly rich hoppy flavor considering that it only has 3.9% alcohol. The taste is also distinctively citric, but in my opinion is slightly too bitter. Overall, it is an OK beer with some character but doesn't really manage to impress.

60 Above average

Beer review: Fuller's Black Cab Stout (4.5% England: Fuller's Brewery)

The Fuller's Black Cab Stout is a stout, more specifically a dry stout. It's brewed by Fuller's Brewery, a medium-sized British independent brewery located in Chiswick, London. The company was founded in 1845 and currently produces about 26 million liters annually.

Taste: The Fuller's Black Cab Stout is a medium-bodied beer with flavors of roasted, bready malt, chocolate and coffee. The beer then continues with sweet aromas of caramel and finishes with a touch of bitterness.

Overall, the Fuller's Black Cab Stout is a really nice, sophisticated beer. It's slightly more watery than some of the other stouts that I've tried, but considering the low percentage of alcohol, it delivers a really aroma-rich flavor. A really nice supermarket strength beer.

85 Great

Beer review: Wold Top Against The Grain (4.5% England: Wold Top)

Wold Top Against The Grain is a specialty beer, more specifically a gluten free beer made from lager malt, maize, hops and yeast. It's brewed by Wold Top, a small English brewery located in Yorkshire. Gluten free beers are quite rare, and therefore Wold Top Against The Grain is an interesting release, especially since at the moment it's found in some of the Finnish supermarkets. Let's give it a try!

Taste: Wold Top Against The Grain is a light/medium-bodied beer, with a faint malty taste. The maltiness is quite sweet and is combined with the flavor of maize. The beer is slightly fruity and features a medium strength taste of herbal hop. The aftertaste of the beer is slightly bitter.

Overall, the Wold Top Against The Grain is an interesting beer. It's gluten free and although, when it comes to brewing beer, it starts from this disadvantageous position, it manages to deliver a nice set of flavors. It's nothing unforgettable, yet it's a nice choice, especially for people sensitive to gluten.

70

Beer review: Robinsons Trooper (4.7% England: Robinsons)

Robinsons Trooper is an ale, more specifically an English Pale Ale. It is the official beer of the heavy metal group Iron Maiden and supposedly the recipe was created by the group. It's brewed by a British family-run regional brewery Robinsons. This sounds much more promising than the roots of the Kiss and Motörhead beers. Of course, being the beer of Iron Maiden, one of the most popular metal bands in the world, it's also meant for worldwide distribution. Let's see if this compromises the taste of the beer.

Taste: The Trooper starts with a faint sour lemony taste and then moves on to a medium-bodied sweet, malt dominant taste. It features hints of toffee, honey and finishes with a mild bitterness.

Overall, the Robinsons Trooper is miles above the beers of Kiss and Motörhead. It's not a beer with the most character, but considering the wide distribution and bulk quality of the beer, it's a really nice one. It's available in many Finnish supermarkets and it's one of the better beers there.

70 Good

Beer review: Young's Bitter (4.5% England: Wells & Young's)

Young's Bitter is an ale, more specifically a bitter, produced by Wells & Young's, the largest private beer brewery in England. In addition to the strong hoppy character of the beer, it promises nutty, fruity and lemon flavors. Let's see how well it redeems these promises.

Taste: Young's bitter is a medium-bodied ale, dominated by a strong hoppy character. On first taste the beer offers a sour lemony taste and after the hoppy-dominant malty base it finishes with a relatively soft nutty flavor.

Overall, Young's Bitter is an OK beer but, in my opinion, it's missing the real bitterness and is too strongly dominated by its hoppy character.

50 Average