Durham Brewery ‘Evensong’ English Bitter

Rating:

“The recipe is based upon an original beer made by Whitakers of Halifax in 1937. A smooth well balanced traditional ruby bitter. Five different malts including crystal and amber create a rich toffee/cherry flavour. Earthy Fuggles and Goldings hops combine in a smooth English character with hints of kiwifruit and toffee.”

Glassware: English Pint.

Appearance: Slightly muddy light mahogany pour with a ruby/red hue. It forms a frothy three finger head which slowly deconstructs and leaves healthy lacing on the glass.

Aroma: It’s like a fruity malt bomb. At first we’re detecting sweet dark fruits like plum, raisin and blood orange but as it settles it develops more strawberry/overripe cherry notes. Truck loads of caramel and toffee apple with delicate hints of blackcurrant, freshly cut grass, earthy spice and jam on toast. A rather complex aroma and we dig it!

Flavour: It’s much more carbonated than we had anticipated. Quite a well balanced flavour profile though – sweet dark fruits and caramelised crystal malts are perfectly countered by the grassy, spicy and earthy hops. A very mild toasty-ness through the mid and it develops a slightly burnt toffee late in the piece which performs another key balancing act to the sweet, malty finish.

Mouthfeel: As we touched on before it’s overly carbonated…too much for our liking. Mild-medium body, 5% ABV. The texture is sticky and a little chewy.

Overall: Not all that fussed with this offering. Durham are one of our favourite English breweries but this seems a little off the mark. Not sure if it has a small infection or not as well. If it does and it still drinks this well then they must be commended.