Old Speckled Hen.

[Briandg]

I have no idea who brews it, it wasn't terribly expensive, either. less than $4-5 for the half liter bottle.

I'm going to just dive right in and rate it as a solid 85-90. It's a standard english bitter ale, as far as I can tell. It's red almost to the point of pink/orange. poured with a half inch of foam and retained enough carbonation to give it the zing. The foam clings to the glass as I'm drinking it.

It has great balance. It's got strong toasty notes, surprisingly. It's nicely bitter, without a huge hop hit. the hops are very different from the typical beer, instead of tasting like I was chewing spruce needles, it's well balanced and almost swallowed up by the taste of the malt and toast.

I dunno, 85-90 I guess, I think that's about right. I could probably drink 3 or so in a night, because it is so smooth and well balanced. Good beer, reasonable price.