Young's Special London Ale

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

I had this beer in London - this beer was INCREDIBLE! This beer stands up to some of the best Ale's I have ever had. The flavor was hoppy, creamy, and bold. This beer may have been one of the best of the Euro trip. A pretty-close-to-perfect beer.

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

this is a slightly dark, medium bodied, and well blanced ale. it won't do anything that makes you stand up and take notice, but it's pretty solid if not extraordinary.

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

pours a dark apricot color, with a thick 2 1/2 finger head, which settles down a bit and leaves some spotty lacing around the glass. Smells delicious...lots of malty sweetness, no alcohol, and a little yeasty. In the taste, however, there is something startlingly unpleasant. I wish i knew what it was; it is kind of acidic, mildly vegetable in nature. Ok, I turned the bottle around and read that the "best before" date was six months ago. That may have something to do with the lightning bolt of terrible-ness that rips through this beer. Mouthfeel is a little oily. I don't know if I'd ever go through the trouble of trying this again, even if I found one that was fresher.

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

This brew poured a dark orange/amber with small tan head that dissipates quickly. Some lacing was noted. The aroma was citrus, spice and hops. Medium mouth feel with decent carbonation. Flavor was excellent with spice, citrus and hops predominant with some malt background. Overall, very nice.

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

Slightly hazy, dark burnt orange brew with 1" of tan cap. Man, the colour is great! Decent retention and some slippery ropy lacing. The aroma is awesome and I wavered giving it a 10. Strong fragrant fruity / spicy hops (a mix of dark and citrus fruits). Biscuit and a bit of caramel malts. Best ever? Pretty much. The taste is biscuit and caramel with a large presence of spicy hops. The impression of alcohol is made without really noticing it. The flavour wanes during warming as the aroma was more dominant than the taste, especially early on. Cocoa and lots of pepper. Stiff bitterness prevails. A good smooth carbonation paves the way for the malty middle but that malts weakens significantly at the end of the sip. Near medium bodied. The hops hit with a good spicy burn (alc?) to finish you off. Excellent beer.

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

Dark golden brown body with a noisy off white cap, retention is ok but no lacing what so ever. Aroma very mild and hard to detect but honey and bready malts are noticeable. Wood and mild rubbing alcohol are the first flavours I notice, secondary flavours are liquorish, caraway seeds, and maybe honey. Mouth feel is light a nicely carbonated but a burning sensation remains on my tung. Very clean and crisp and enjoyable you cant go wrong with this beer.

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

Courtesy of Beerhunter: Pours a clear orange colour with no head, aromas of hops and soft malts. flavors are of peach, sweet fruit, and alcohol. decent beer overall.

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

golden amber in color with an impressive head at first that slightly diminishes some faint lacing the first smell is dull with an almost windex smell very metallic taste and cider finish with a penny in your mouth aftertaste the flavor was more cider than ale to me not that great in my opinon

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

This was really sweet. It poured a dark amber color with a weak head. It had a sweet aroma with a caramel quality that came in mid palate. This was overly sweet.

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

Pours with a lightly hazy, reddish amber color and is topped by a frothy, pale tan, creamy colored head. The beer is a bit overcarbonated and even foams up after I popped the cap, this seems to be a problem with many of these, but often they are not overcarbonated. The aroma is a mix of earthy spice, a touch of citrus and some herbal notes, malty notes of caramel and toasted grain.

The taste is sweet and malty; notes of caramel and toasted grain provide a solid backdrop to the dominant hop character. Fruit notes area mix of a touch of bergamot, which adds a citrusy component to the flavors, and a nice berry note that seems to be from the combination of the hops and malt.. Notes of lemon verbena, perhaps a touch of basil like sharpness, a touch of black pepper and just a touch of menthol. The note of bergamot is magnified as the beer warms up.

This beer is rich and satisfying, yet still nice and quaffable; the hops and malt weave quite a balance together. The maltiness really adds a richness to this brew, almost a touch of a meaty quality here. But really this meaty quality seems to be a combination of the caramelized malt, ample melanoids and a toasted, bready grain character. If you can find a fresh bottle of this brew here in the states, this is well worth it.