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

Cask at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. Black colour, roasted malty and ...err... MILD flavour. Smooth. Low on hops like expected from this style.

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

(Bottle, bought in Denmark). Deep amber (okay, chestnut) colour, moderate head. Too much CO2 for a bitter. Moderate aroma of toffee/caramel and malts, hints of dried fruits / fruitcake. Flavour is malty with a reasonable bitterness, finish is a bit watery. Easy drinking, nice enough - but nothing special either.

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

Cask conditioned at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. I had a sip or two of distinguished beer rater chris_o’s sample of this beer at the festival, and found his rating to be quite accurate. This organic dark ale is not a typical English best bitter (organic Hallertau hops from New Zealand are used), it's more of a cross between a bitter and a dark mild, like chris_o says: Deep tawny/chestnut colour, sulphurous aroma, grainy and some roasted malts flavour with low bitterness, a slight sweetness, dry finish.

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

Cask at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. Deep golden colour. IBF programme said "hoppy & fruity throughout", and I can’t object to that. Not impressive, though.

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

Cask at The Hogshead, Ipswich. My first Ringwood beer. Deep golden colour, light bodied, fruity flavour with a faint hint of barnyard. OKish, but not a favourite of mine.

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

(Cask conditioned). Sampled at the Wear Valley CAMRA beer festival. (Room temperature, low natural carbonation). Listed there as a stout (I would even say dry stout, though it's a tad sweeter than the Irish ones), but another local CAMRA website claims that a beer named Luddite has been judged as a "strong dark mild". I'll leave that to the category freaks. Anyway, this beer is pitch black with a delicious roast aroma and flavour, but the mouthfeel is a bit thin despite the relatively high ABV. Add a little nitrogen, and it would compete with draught Guinness (or rather: Beamish).

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

Cask conditioned at the White Horse, Parsons Green, London. Deep golden colour, moderate head. Minimal carbonation, aroma was hard to detect due to a smoky pub, some aromatic hops around. Flavour is instantly Cascade hops (I think), elderberry-like qualities, not really bitter. An OKish beer, not great, lacks some "bite".

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

Cask at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. Pitch black colour. Aroma of coffee and plums. Flavour is roasted malts, coffee and bitter dark chocolate. Very well balanced, just the right bitterness. Nearly a stout - in a blind test I’d probably say it was. "Addictive" indeed. This was "Beer of the Festival" for me - delightful!

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

Cask at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. Another dark mild. Fruit and cigarbox aroma. Soft coffee and burnt malts flavour. A decent beer.

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

Cask at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. I think fellow rater chris_o is spot on in his comment (no surprise, as we sampled this beer from the same glass): "The colour was pale amber, but somewhat cloudy. There was certainly a noticeable resinous hop blast in the aroma but, not for the first time at this festival, there was a distinct whiff of sulphur too. I can only assume that was unintentional as the combination was not too appealing. The mouthfeel was zippy, but the initial hop aroma just didn’t carry through onto the palate and the flavours were not well defined. Finished soft and not very hoppy. I get the feeling that this could be a much more impressive beer, but wasn’t in tip top condition here." This is an OKish strong pale ale, alcohol is well hidden but the flavour is not very exciting.

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

Cask at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. Copper coloured. Moderate malty aroma. Drier than you expect from a beer this colour. Nice hoppy bitterness. Finished it with my burger & chips - good combo. Review bottle, 2007: 500 ml bottle, courtesy of Cardinal pub, Stavanger. Labeled "real ale in a bottle", so probably NOT pasteurised. ABV is 4.2%. Amber to copper colour, large off-white head. Pleasant fruity aroma, notes of red berries, hints of oak and spices. The flavour is fairly malty with a touch of caramel. Moderate hops. Easy drinking.

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

(Bottle conditioned). A new favourite of mine - and I'm the first one to rate it, even! (It has been in the database for quite a while. Btw, cask conditioned this beer is called "Magnificat", otherwise it's the same brew.) I had this wonderful bottle conditioned beer under the vaulted ceiling of Durham Cathedral and Cloister Restaurant, where it rightly belongs. The commercial description seems pretty accurate, but this beer may have more in common (strength, yeastiness) with some belgian ales than most British IPAs. Durham Brewery is not much more than 10 years old, but this rich and full flavoured beer would be worthy of St. Cuthbert himself (he died 687 AD, btw). Colour is golden and hazy, carbonation (natural) is low to moderate. If one needs a textbook example of the fact that beer is made of the three elements malts, yeast and hops (+ water, of course), and that each of those three elements should be clearly discernible in aroma and flavour - well, here it is. To quote the brewery: "Despite being strong, this beer is not too sweet, but has a luscious malty base over which a complex bitterness makes balancing, thirst quenching properties." Amen!

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

(Cask conditioned). A brand new* (*when sampled) beer from the enterprising brewers of Durham, sampled at the Wear Valley CAMRA beer festival. (Room temperature). CAMRA stated the ABV to be 4.2%, brewery website says 3.9% (possibly not updated - they spoke of the beer as a project in the making). CAMRA write "Bonnie" (which is logical), brewery website says "Bonny" - I guess they have their reasons. Low (natural) carbonation. Reddish brown colour. Malty aroma and flavour, moderate hops. The North East English style is really a marriage between English bitter and Scottish "heavy". Not a bad brew (quite good, actually), but a beer as malty as this would profit on a higher ABV.

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

Cask at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. Dark mild. Aroma of prunes, hints of cigarbox. Well rounded flavour, lightly roasted, hints of liquorice. Nice.

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

Cask conditioned at The Cricketers, Ipswich. This beer is brewed with organic hops and malts. Colour is golden, slightly hazy. Moderate hoppy/fruity aroma. Relatively light bodied, grapefruity hoppy bitterness from start to finish. Nice.

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

Cask at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. IBF list says "straw coloured, bitter flavour and soft malt finish". That pretty much sums it up. Nice hops, good bitterness, refreshing - should be served cooler than it was at the IBF.

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

Cask at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. Amber colour, the slight haziness did not bother me. Sulphurous dried apricot aroma. Flavour is moderately malty, soft and easy drinking, but not remarkable.

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

Cask at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. Totally flat, no natural carbonation. Black (=dark reddish brown) colour. Not very strong but pleasant aroma: liquorice, coffee and tobacco. Flavour has some malts, liquorice, thin coffee - but leaves a rather thin mouthfeel.

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

Cask at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. Deep golden colour, aroma is dusty malts with some tobacco. Flavour is moderately malty. Had most of the beer with a meal (bangers & mash) - okay.

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

Sampled draught at The Jacksons, Sunderland. Not sure if it was cask or keg, both are available - most likely keg. Golden colour, good head. Smooth. An easy quaffing bitter, not much character - but let's admit it: I'm a sucker for beers like this when quantity is the matter of the day.

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

Cask conditioned at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. Listed as a cross between a mild and a porter, which indeed it is - an interesting one, too. Coffee and chocolate aroma. Quite sweet and malty flavour. Not bad at all.

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

Cask conditioned at the Ipswich Beer Festival 2004, gravity dispense. (The brewery website says ABV is 4.5%, but the picture of the pumpclip in the website says ABV is 5.3%(!). Probably varies.) Reddish brown colour. Sweet and fruity aroma and flavour, sour finish. A typical English moderate ABV porter.

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

Cask conditioned at the White Horse, Parsons Green, London. Copper colour, moderate to low head. Very aromatic, dark fruits and barnyard. Dry hopped in the cask at the pub? Interesting hoppy and spicy bite from start to finish. An excellent bitter! (A pint I had later at The Tottenham was not nearly that good. A well kept cask is a must!)

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

(Cask conditioned). Sampled at the Wear Valley CAMRA Beer festival, where it was served at room temperature with no carbonation whatsoever. Dark ruby colour, exquisite aroma, a bit thin mouthfeel, pleasant mild spicy flavour. Recommended! Would love to try it again, preferably slightly cooler at a Hebridean pub.

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

Cask at The Golden Lion, Ipswich. Deep brown colour. Full malty flavour, prunes and forest fruits aroma, hints of English malt vinegar and HP Sauce in both aroma and flavour. Dusty finish. Nice.