OHanlons Royal Oak (Pale Ale)

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

What a brutal pour I got 4” of beer and 8” of foam and its disappearing so very slowly hurry up dam it I want to drink you. The body appears dark honey brown and crystal clear. Aroma is not winning me over mild sweet wood some faint chemical smell and a touch of citrusy hops. Biscuty malts, mildly bitter hops, dried out grass and wood make up the light and dry flavor. Banana comes out in the flavor but only on the last few sips when the beer was room temp. Mouth feel was thinner then I would have liked it to be. Ok to drink but forgettable. My marks seem to low.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Poured out a deep burnt orange brew that was not entirely clear - probably due to my pour. I was pretty careful but got greedy near the bottom. The large super light brown crown is really thick and has amazing retention and lacing - an excellent looking brew, no doubt. The aroma is pleasant but quite mild. Found a bit of bread and caramel, the latter being the weaker of the two, fruit that comes from the darker side of the citrus family. Something faint a short that reminds me of chocolate milk powder...?? The more this warms the more the hop character comes out. The taste is really goo, so good that I've put another in the freezer. I've really gotten hooked on English bitters lately. Neat blend of malts - I know there's some bread and some caramel but it all seems a mystery.... comes across dry. Tasty hops that come over the top of the malt but do not overpower the flavour. The hops really become more sour as I bottom my glass. It's almost like this beer is layered. Something Xmas hard candy like in the spice. It might even taste like bark. Nears medium bodied. Smooth brew with a lengthy bitter and bready finish, more so later on. I think I'm in need of a blind English Bitter tasting and let these suckers battle each other to the death. Did I overrate this? I'll have to hit it up again, me thinks.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Bottle conditioned with a best before date: 03 03 09. They do say to let the sediments settle, and not to shake. I usually like it with this stuff in the brew, but this time, I can say that the beer tasted better before I poured everything out. Now it is very cloudy, with an orange brown colour. The head is pretty decent with some creaminess and a beige colour. Good retention and lacing all-around. At first, I smell the rusty aromas I don't like in beers, created by whatever hop (once I find, I will never use in my own brews). Then, after breathing, it seems to go away, and the nose becomes milder with some malt, roasted and caramel. Starts on little bitterness, then goes through a touch of coffee to then finish on a nutty aftertaste, which is quite nice. A bit expensive for this one, but worth a try.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Bottle: Poured a orangey brown color ale with a large foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma consists of dry malt with some light bittering hops presence also noticeable. Taste is also dominated by some dry malt with some hints of nuts and a nglish hops finish that is also quite dry. Body is above average with some great carbonation. Well done for the style but not necessarily something I would care for very often.

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

Bottle: Decants a murky amber ale in the glass with a smallish sticky cap that laces well. Aromas of succulent fruits and musty earthy tones and some caramel. Flavor gives a dry impression spiked with juicy fruits and some nut-tobacco-earthy-musty tastes riding on crystal malts..finishes a tad bitter but with a very soft palate. Decent quaff!

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Bottled@SBWF2007. Coppery amber colour, mediumsized creamy beige head. Aroma is a lot of fruits and some wooden hints. Flavour is much the same along with some mild sourness and earthyness also.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 5 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

Bottle conditioned and best before November 2005. This one poured a most attractive medium-to-dark copper colour, and it was quite hazy with a lot of sediment. Poured every bit of this into the glass, to. The head was almost no head, what there was being ivory in colour and it died away quite rapidly. Aroma was faint, maybe a hint of fruit. Taste was "odd", having perhaps some malt and hop but it was hard to determine what it really was about. Mouthfeel was thin and watery. A disappointing beer.

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Bottle conditioned. Clear darkish brown colour with a slim off-white head. Aroma is malty and big floral hops plus some citrus fruit in the background. Nice mix of malt, hops and fruit in the taste. Medium bodied, lively mouthfeel. Well balanced and interesting. Very good.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 9 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 9

Wow..., I'm quickly "re-becoming" a fan of True English Ale....

What the heck does that mean? Well, while I was quite a fan for a while, the likes of Wychwood's generally awful offerings (as well as unsatisfactory nitro-cans of hum-drum "English ale", and so-called "English IPAs" from the likes of Greene King) all turned me off to much of what was being exported from the U.K. But with the likes of (first) the Freeminer beers, and (later) the O'Hanlon's line of beers, I've been more-or-less "won back" to diehard CAMRA-approved Bottle-Conditioned Ales from England....

While I still have to give the nod to Freeminer's Trafalgar IPA, as far as my favorite of the English ilk, there's no denying this particular beer's worth, too.

Not a whole lot in the way of foam -- only hints of lacing too. But a welcome Two Row Malty aroma, with the always appealing "English yeasty esters" that tend to go under-rated in many circles that I run in.

Hopheads need not run away in fear simply `cause the classic Fuggles n' Goldings aren't present right at the doorstep. No..., step inside, take your coat off, kick up your heals, relax..., and only then graciously welcome with open-arms the hoppy goodness of this old-school resurrected-from-the-grave English Pale Ale.

Quite solid and filling, and quite satisfying through and through. Easy to down -- I can only imagine how this beer's already excellent drinkability would improve when served off a proper firkin...!

While I never had the chance to sample this in it's original incarnation, I do in a way have some positive memories of this beer. For when I first started to become the diehard beer geek that I am now (circa `93?), I was also constantly collecting beer coasters. And one of my favorites was a Royal Oak coaster -- my favorite perhaps due to the beer's complete inaccessibility to me in Pensacola FL in the early 90's.

Flash-forward to 2004, and I'm glad that my positive thoughts "back in the day" have been backed up with a thoroughly satisfying English Pale Ale..., that I can easily see picking up again. Recommended.
//TB

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

The aroma is quite spicy with some citrus and bread. The appearance is a dirty orange with a moderate head. The flavor is fairly bitter with some grass and citrus fruit. The aftertaste is quite bitter. This is a pretty decent pale ale.