Worthington's White Shield

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

500 ml bottle from Central City. Clear copper pour, creamy ivory head, not thick but still enduring. Good aroma of citrus and hop, hint of pine also. Flavour had enough citrus and hop, not much pine, caramel notes to finish. Nicely balanced. A good English IPA with northwest IPA influences.

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

Pours a huge foamy white head and leaves thick dirty lacing. Has a light amber coppery appearance. Aromas are fairly tame, a bit malty with some mild herbal hops. Flavours of earthy and herbal hops. Much sweeter than expected, but also not as hoppy as wanted. Pretty smooth mouthfeel and easy going down.

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

An English IPA from the LCBO. Yeah, right. Pours a clean amber colour, but slightly unfiltered (becomes hazy by the last pour). Fruity aromas of malt found in an amber beer with a little hop. Weird, as the first pour smells like a Coors malt (bad swill), and so on as I pour some more. The head is frothy, slightly off-white, had decent retention and some good lace. Again, the taste reminds me of an amber beer with some mild hop creating some light bitterness in the finish. Caramel malt notes are felt. Not much of an IPA, with too much of the macro brewery malts and adjuncts.

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

March 15, 2014
LCBO Outlet #255 (Milton, Ontario, Canada – Main / Bronte)
500ml bottle
5.6% ABV
$3.95
The beer pours a reddish gold colour, mainly clear, and topped with a 1" off-white head. The aroma was caramel, floral hops, and grains. Not a citrusy note to be noted. The mouthfeel was medium bodied with average carbonation. The flavour was burnt grains, caramel, and musty hops. Sessionable, but far from outstanding.

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

Crystal clear amber in color, bubbles float lazily to the well-formed ivory head that lowers slowly to a loose, frothy pile while dotting the pint in lace.Earthy hop tones emerge with faint floral aspects following closely. Nutty and toffee-like malt balances with some amber notes with just a little touch of sulfur in the finish.Malted barley provides flavors of toast with just a thin pattern of melted caramel and a lightly floral hop finish.Robust and incredibly smooth, this delicious English IPA has an exceptional body that features malt (of course), not much in the way of hops (i'm spoiled) good beer though.

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

Bottled (BBE 11/2007)@The White Horse, Parsons Green. Amber colour, big fluffy beige head. Aroma is wood, parfume, some earth and quite strong cardboardy and rubbery notes. Flavour is raisins, sweet malts, some grass and mild wooden notes. Flavour ruined about being too old, but the flavour had turned out quite interesting.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 10 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 10

Worthington White Shield is a beer that needs know introduction to beer gurus. This beer is legendary, and has a cult following in its native England. This beer has only been exported to the US in recent years, and it has gained a cult following here as well. This beer is what the British like to call real ale, and is bottled conditioned. What does that mean? All bottle conditioned means is; the beer is bottled with a small amount of yeast. The yeast will eat the residual sugars in the beer and continue to condition in the bottle. So a bottle conditioned beer is still fermenting, the secondary fermentation isn't taking place at the brewery in a tank, its happening in the bottle. And that really defines what real ale is as well. Real ale is any beer that has a secondary fermentation in another vessel, be it a firkin, keg, or in Worthington White Shield's case, a bottle. Drinking habits in Britain are much different than they are here in the US. Most beer consumption is done in the pub, and most beer is consumed on draught. But real ale is bottled as well, and White Shield is a great example of how good a bottled conditioned beer can be. Worthington White Shield pours to a beautiful, bright golden, pale color, with a nice white head, and a good carbonation. One caveat, be very careful when you pour this beer, you do not want to roust the yeast in the bottle. If you do, your beer will become cloudy and this will effect the flavor profile as well. Spent yeast is not what you want to taste in this beer, so give it a slow and gentle pour, and leave a slight bit of beer in the bottle if you have to. The nose is wonderful, really nice hop aromatic flood the nose, and this is coupled with a nice bit of pale malt aroma as well. The palate is very firm. Good pale and crystal malt flavors, slightly sweet, biscuit like, and grainy. Nice fruity estery flavors are present as well. This beer has good body and is slick on the tongue. This beer finishes with more great pale malt character up front, then dries out with a nice, bitter, hop bite. This is an outstanding bottled pale ale. This beer is the perfect foil to good,(yes good!) British fare such as beef Wellington, or Toad in the hole. I would also pair this with a boiled dinner of ham, potato, and cabbage, or fish and chips.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 10

Bottle. Effervescent amber with a huge rocky head. Aroma is hoppy with some fruit and restrained malt. Taste - I was expecting a lot, and I’ve not been disappointed - is great; very well balanced malts and hops, with some lovely fruit and spices. Perfect mouthfeel. This is a great IPA.

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

If you have sampled English bitters you know the name is a bit off as they aren't usually that bitter in taste all things considred. This beer was the first English beer I had where there was that bitter bite we've come to know and love from our beers in the Pacific Northwest. My first thought was of a British version of Sam Adams. Nice amber color with a full head. Malt holds it's own against the rage of hops resulting in an excellent IPA.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 9 | Overall: 8

Lots of condition, a traditional IPA with a bronze colour and a clean hoppy flavour , on the palate, doesn't drink it's strength, slips down all to easily.