Skinners Figgys Brew

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

Cask at Oliver Twist, Stockholm. Pours out in a clear reddish amber colour with a large creamy white foam. Dryish notes of grass and nutshells in the aroma with buttery maltiness in the background. Medium-bodied with balanced flavours of fudge, red berries, almonds and grassy hops. Long medium bitter finish of raspberry jam, nuts, toffee, minerals, dried oranges, and wet grass. Highly drinkable and well-composed.

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

Cask conditioned at the Royal Standard, Wooburn Common. Brown with a patchy white head. Dark, full bodied best bitter with biscuity malt, some caramel/toffee and a bit of fruit. Nice.

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

Sampled cask-conditioned @ The Harbour Tavern, Mevagissey, Cornwall.

A rather darker and more mysterious beer than standard Bitters go, that tends to straddle the difference between a Bitter and a Mild. The dark-ish forboding of this beer is coupled with the rather creepy looking pub clip, featuring an one-eyed old lady sitting in a stone chair, and looking rather wicked. Here's the story of the beer (quoting from the website):

"Madgy Figgy, a wrecker, was best known witch of the St. Levan and Burian coven. On the dramatic coastline at Land's End, at a place known as Tol-Pedden-Penwith, there can be found a pile of granite stones which became known as Madgy Figgy's Chair. It was from this precarious seat that she would cast her wicked spells to whip up tremendous storms and then, using the light of her lantern, she would lure ships on to the rocks and the sailors to their death. Once the ships were wrecked Figgy and her cronies would loot the booties from the ships and she was often seen dressed in fine clothes and jewels. Apparently, during storms, a light can still be seen on Madgy Figgy's Chair!"

While I'm not the superstitious type, all that does make for an interesting back-story to this beer. How does the beer fair, compared to the story?

Pretty well, all told. I can easily see why this has been crowned Champion Bitter at several high-end beer festivals, including the grandest of the Cornish festivals, the CAMRA Cornish Beer Festival.

Ruddy-dark and rather mysterious looking, with reddish highlights in the rather dark body. Hints of pepper in the estery nose, along with the de'facto Cornish Ale standard of Challenger or Northdown, and Goldings.

First hit's the mouth a little heavy, but then quickly mellows out and improves with time. Nice malt bill with this one, that aludes to it's slight Mild Ale inspiration.

Perhaps not as easily quaffable as I would like -- seems a little disconnected for long-term session drinking. But for a pint or two, this makes for a very nice change of pace. Recommended.
//TB