Timothy Taylor Landlord
ABV: 4.1%
Origin: Keighley, West Yorkshire, England
Website: www.timothy-taylor.co.uk
Established in 1858, Timothy Taylor had long enjoyed the respect of discerning beer drinkers as one of the best of the surviving regional independents when in 2003 a certain musician by the name of Madonna Ciccone told TV interviewer Jonathan Ross she regularly enjoyed a pint of its flagship ale Landlord in Soho’s Dog and Duck. This unexpected plug brought still further expansion for a brewery with significant regional, and a building national, presence, though much of it centred on Landlord. Tim Taylor does brew a number of other cask ales which are impressive in their own way, but it’s easy to see why this premium bitter stands out and has won numerous awards, including four Champion Beer of Britain gongs.
Last time I saw an ingredients list, Landlord was made from Scottish Golden Promise pale malt, Fuggles, Styrian Goldings and Whitbread Goldings Variety hops and modest additions of brewing sugar and caramel. It began life as a bottled beer known as Competition Ale in 1952 and migrated to cask in 1953. I’ve based these tasting notes on a cask sample in top nick at the very pleasant Railway Bell pub in Hampton, which only just missed the cut for my forthcoming London’s Best Beer Pubs and Bars book.
Landlord is an orange-amber beer with a fine white head and a notably hoppy, slightly sacky and gingery aroma that turns sweetish with notes of lychees and tropical fruit. A similarly fruity and sacky palate has bitter quinine-like hops balanced by soft fruit flavours. The drying chewy finish is lasting and peppery with biscuity crispness and a firm, slightly worty malt note. Spiked bras and footpath blocking notwithstanding, Ms Ciccone has good taste in beer.
Bottled Landlord, although filtered and pasteurised and some way short of the dazzling qualities of the cask version at its best, is still worth trying. Fecund grassy hops dominate a dry aroma that also has a sweet creamy touch. A distinctive biscuity malt and raspberry juice palate has emerging straw notes and hops, turning instantly hoppy and bitterish on the swallow, with a long finish mixing peppery hops and soft fruit.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/timothy-taylor-landlord-cask/44523/
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