RCH Pitchfork Bitter

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

I’m sure this beer is better fresh from a cask in the shadow of the brewery because this imported bottled version is fairly mediocre. It’s a pale gold topped by a small amount of white bubbles. The aroma is biscuity with a good dose of floral/grapefruit rind hops. It is interesting how reminiscent the Fuggles and Goldings are of the American "C" hops. The flavor is just a bit too bitter for the thin body of the beer. Ultimately, it’s an uninteresting experience that has undoubtedly lost something in its travels. A disappointment but probably only in their choice to export without being able to preserve its proper character.

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

500 ml brown bottle, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. Bottle conditioned. Brewed with pale malt only. Golden colour, just a slight haziness, large off-white head. Nice hoppy aroma, hints of citrus, leather and maybe some oak. Distinct hoppy flavour throughout, some citrus and toffee, fruity finish. Bitter and long lasting aftertaste. A refreshing beer - not bad at all.

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

Dark golden. Vague grassy hoppy aroma. Grasswy hops in flavour, hints of orange-peels and yeast. Long grassy bitter finish, not of nutshells.. Quite thin body.

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

Bottled. Cloudy orange, mediumsized head, lacing. Very strong hoppy aroma with "earthy" hints. Very hoppy bitter taste, but also "earthy" (mouldy) taste. Wellchosen name for the taste. Not much aftertaste.

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

Bottle conditioned. Somewhat ambushed by the over lively nature of this one. Huge white head on an amber coloured beer. Aroma is hoppy with some citrus. Hops dominate the taste, some citrus again, and a suggestion of malt. Dry and drinkable.

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

Well, after punishing my poor taste buds with a variety of middling-to-fair-to-downright-poor Euro Lagers, felt that I needed to reward myself for going the extra mile with something a bit more up my alley. And while I think I might have been better off by simply cracking open one of my many IPAs in my beer fridge, I can't say that I'm disappointed with this, either.

Definately a beer that you need to let "breathe" for a while -- to both warm up to proper Bitter temps, and to let the billowy head of foam calm down a bit.

Quite light, with the aforementioned mounding head of foam -- is this a Weizen of some sort? But no, the hoppy/yeasty aroma makes sure that you know that this is definately an English Bitter, for sure.

A bit quirky in the initial taste -- odd selection of hops, perhaps? Almost has a slight vegetal nature to the hopping -- reminds me of the handful of different "fresh/wet hopped" beers I've had before (esp. Russian River's HopTime Harvest Ale). Not a bad thing in-itself, but takes a whole `nother slant on the way a beer gets it's Bitter, Flavor, and Aroma hop profiles. And can be off-putting if you're not expecting something so left-of-center....

Tends to meld a bit better as this warms. The malt starts to shine through, and provides some much-needed balancing action to the beer overall.

A bit heavy-handed for something only 4.3%ABV -- perhaps not quite "sessionable" as I would have preferred, to be honest....

But still comes across as more along the lines of an beer with an IPA's hop-bill, but with only an Ordinary Bitter's malt bill.

"Rebellious"? Perhaps. It does seem to strike out on it's own, all told. That is to say, this is more bitter than many'an "English IPA" (read: Green King). But I think that the body could have been beefed up to match the wet- and dry-hopping a bit more overall.

But I still didn't mind drinking this. A nice change of pace, all told....
//TB

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

Poured a hazy gold from the bottle. Oranges and flowers come out in the aroma. Flavor has orange peel, a surprising hops bite for a bitter and a little peach. This is very interesting and also has more to it than most bitters. I really like this light and refreshing change of pace. Too much hops to be my favorite bitter.

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

Yellowish bitter with good colour, sweet aroma, a watery feel and slightly fragrant hops. Upfront taste with a dry finish but very drinkable. A regualr at my local.

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

0.5 l bottle. Yellow with a white head. Hoppy aroma, citrusy. Hoppy flavor with some bitterness. Malty. Nice malt character. Decent body. Enjoyable. Decent.