A couple of weeks ago the lovely people at Young’s sent me a case of their new London Gold, when I say new I really mean newly bottled, as London Gold has been around in Cask form for some time now.
As they were kind enough to send me 8 bottles I decided to share them with friends and family so I am hoping to get their feedback soon, (keep an eye here for Dave’s thoughts as I’m sure he will do a write up sooner or later)
Along with the bottles I was sent a little bit of info about the beer which read as follows:
Young’s introduce London Gold, a lovely refreshing summery beer which is a light, golden and full flavoured bottle conditioned beer with a refreshing bite.
As with all Wells and Young’s beers, London Gold is brewed with natural mineral water from the brewery’s very own well, sunk by the founder, Charles Wells, in the early 1900′s.
Each bottle of beer is made with just four key ingredients : barley, hops, water and yeast, and matures in the bottle for the freshest taste.
So how did it compare to the description? Well all in all I thought it was pretty delicisous, It’s simple, clean and refreshing and packing enough flavour for me to finish the few bottles I hadn’t given away.
It pours a really pale golden with a large foamy head, similar to what you would expect from a lager or pilsner. If you have let the bottle stand for a few days and pour it carefully you can leave the sediment in the bottle, however I didn’t, the first bottle I had came straight out of the cool-box after being driven to our camping trip last weekend, As a result it ended up being rather cloudy, as with most bottle conditioned beers that aren’t poured carefully.
The aromas were malty and slightly sweet, with a little bit of grassy hop there. The flavour was much the same, it had a very light bitter crisp finish that was not to dissimilar to what you would expect from the aforementioned lager’s or pilsners, this meant it was pretty quaffable and while it doesn’t set the world a light it’s another good solid beer from Young’s.
My only criticisms would be that it could do with a few more hops and maybe a little more body, just to give it that extra oomph.
Young’s London Gold Retails at £1.89 and is available form Morrisons, Waitrose, Booths and a couple of other places, it’s well worth trying if you see it.
You can visit the Young’s website here, follow them on twitter here or join their facebook group here.