Triple Fff Moondance
This is my second time to try this beer, and the first time for its bottle-conditioned version. The beer label reveals that it was voted as Champion Best Bitter at GBBF 2002--quite promising it sounds. BB FEB 07, served cool in a straight imperial pint glass. A: translucent dark orangey amber in colour; the carbonation is weird, that it remains flat ever since the bottle is popped open, with sporadic med.-large bubbles ejected from the bottom and just a thin, sparse bubbly head. S: the honey-ish and biscuity edges of pale malts on a par with light flowery scent of hops... somehow the aroma is very settled, simplistic, not exciting, yet still approachable with some pleasant hops. T: the initial bite of bitter and leafy hoppyness gradually softens to a more delicate biscuit-malty body with plenty of malt aroma to enjoy at the back of the palate (a bit like boiled root-vegetables, e.g. Yum), along with a pleasant kick of citric sourness... the finish sees a semi-dryish texture from apparently good amount of leafy hops in the brew, and a mild bitterness that is quite timid for an English bitter. The aftertaste smacks of cold jasmine tea with much less tea leaves in the cup~~ M&D: throughout the drink, the flavour remains pretty subdued and the texture more flat than ideal, reducing the enjoyment on the palate by a good margin. The best thing I can say about this bottling attempt is that it's not great, but I definitely recommend the cask version to anyone who hasn't lost interest after reading all four reviews here~~