A shorter version of this review was first published in BEER August 2009 as part of a piece about beers for summer outdoor drinking, featuring this beer under its rebadged Norfolk Bitter label for Marks and Spencer. For more summer beers, see previous post.
The beer also featured in BEER May 2011 as part of a piece on the influence of different malts on beer flavour. For more about malts in beer, see Itchen Valley Pure Gold.
ABV: 4.5%
Origin: Woodbastwick, Norfolk, England
Website: www.woodfordes.co.uk
Woodforde's Nelson's Revenge
Woodforde’s are a reliable supplier of both cask and bottle conditioned ales so it was no surprise they were one of the breweries chain retailer Marks & Spencer approached when it decided to launch a range of own-brand real ales in a bottle. Woodforde’s contribution is a classic recipe brewed with Maris Otter malt and whole flower hops, in fact a rebadged version of the brewery’s Nelson’s Revenge.
This rubyish red-brown beer has a persistent smooth yellowish head and a lovely spicy glycerine, flower and hop resin aroma, with a slightly syrupy peachy malt palate conveying an earthy bitter dryness over chaffy malt and nuts. A refreshing swallow leads to a drying, nutty and slightly woody finish with rich autumn fruit. A tasty, complex and subtle beer, my favourite in the range.
Added May 2011: Traditionally one of the more popular speciality malts in British brewing is crystal malt, containing extra sugars and kilned at higher temperatures to achieve the “non-enzymic browning” associated with caramel flavours. Woodforde’s Nelson’s Revenge (4.5 per cent) from Woodbastwick in Norfolk has a tasty combination of pale and crystal malts, giving a rubyish mid-brown colour with a chaffy, nutty and fruity, almost peachy, malt character nicely offset by bitterish whole Goldings hops.
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For more summer drinking beers see next post.
For more notes on the use of malts in beer, see Vale Black Swan.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/woodfordes-marks-spencer-norfolk-bitter/18803/
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