Iceni Men of Norfolk Strong Dark Ale ABV 6.2% • Vol 750 ml • bottle • UK • Expensive • Flavour 7.5 • Bottle Conditioned Other beers from Iceni Other beers from UK

This micro in Ickburgh, Norfolk, offers a number of imaginative bottle-conditioned beers but this one, as far as I know, is the only one packaged in a wine-size bottle, a rare practice in Britain: the bottle resembled one of those used in France for bières de garde. The packaging, completed by a nostalgic sepia-tinted label depicting hale and hearty bearded chaps of yesteryear, is designed to attract the tourists in the brewery’s visitor centre, though they are getting a quality brew for their money. Bottles have travelled as far as the Pitfield beer shop in London where I bought my specimen, which I laid down and drank just on its best before date. On the rear label brewer John Palmer explains he was inspired by dark beers he remembered from his youth, such as Morgan’s Mild and Watney’s Stingo barley wine, both now long gone: it’s no surprise, then, that the beer comes out very dark brown, with a light brown head. There’s a fairly restrained aroma of roasted malt, hints of coffee, some yeast and hops and a fruit-drop-like estery sweetness. The palate is lively with plenty of malt, a slightly acidic fruitiness and a little wood. Dryish coffee hop flavours develop, and there’s more tangy fruit on the swallow. The finish has a slightly sour cherry character, with building roasted coffee flavours and a cheek-puckering though nicely rounded hoppiness. The beer lingers long with little jabs of bitterness and woody tones. Overall this is a big, complex and enjoyable brown ale, an East Anglian equivalent of some of the premium Flemish browns. Lucky men of Norfolk. Review submitted by: Des de Moor ADD A COMMENT TO THIS BEER

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Review updated 08 October 2002

Comments

BBE Dec. 2006. The odd-shaped cork (w/ a champagne cork-bottom and a long body of wine cork suitable for long-aged red wine) is stuck deeply in the bottle so I have to use a cork-screw to open it rather than popping it open like sparkling wine. It ends up in my goblet static-bodied, extremely dark brownish liquid, with a loosely formed bubbly head sinking quickly into the beer. It looks like a fine-aged beer, like an old ale served straight from its cask~~ Nose: wow... deeply vinous it is--an intense flow of wood-barrel note is intertwined with young red-wine and grape-juice kind of tart fruity aroma; the second layer of aroma sees a faint hint of dark chocolate, some leather, medicinal note like calcium-pill, roughly crushed barley, ground lightly-roast coffee beans, and some indiscernible herbs. On the palate, there's a quiet flow of static, lightly sour vinous flavour mixed with drops of redcurrant juice, while on the other side of the flavour it shows a deeper, maltier, bitter-chocolatey and coffeeish element and some woody/earthy bitterness. The two sides are coupled well to result in a mildly malty, sourly fruity, but rather clean mouthfeel. Some tangy vinous flavour and a residual taste of coffee is left in the medium-length aftertaste, but no particular bitterness nor hops are noticeable. Distinctive flavour it is!! Overall this beer has a texture like a light, fruity wine, maybe mixed with a spoonful of coffee~~ Light-bodied and flat on the mouthfeel, however it's rather proper for its strange flavour. I wonder if this beer is meant to be like this or my bottle is corked. If the former I'd say this is the most unusual beer I've ever tasted. If the latter it's more like an old ale overly fermented and then past its prime. But if the cork's shape and its supposed function are taken into account, I believe this beer is meant to age more like a wine in the bottle as in a wooden barrel. But still I can't say if it's my cup of tea, and you've got to try this to make up your own mind coz it's one of the most unusual beers you'll ever encounter, believe me! Des de Moor puts it only too well: it's a rare British offering equivalent to a Flemish Brown ale!!
Yau

Can you get it in Poland, please?
Chris Chamberlain alias

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