Tasting Notes: Wessex Brewery: Warminster Warrior

Wessex Brewery: Warminster Warrior (England: Bitter: 4.5% ABV)

Visual: Chestnut brown and still. A thin whisper of a white head.

Nose: Lightly earthy and lightly sour. Very light.

Body: Light caramel. Slight sulphur. Mild bitterness. Malt drinks and some nuttiness. Smooth texture.

Finish: Chestnuts and light earthy hops. Bitterness rises slowly as does the earthy element. Slightly menthol at times.

Conclusion: this beer hides from you. The aroma is nigh on non existent, which left me wondering exactly what I was in for when I started drinking this.

Getting into the main body you find that it isn’t a heavy hitter there either. There’s light bitterness and chestnut in the style. It is solidly earthy at the edges as you would expect from British hops. It fits pretty solidly into your expectations of a nutty bitter, so not particularly showy.

The nuttiness is the main trait, never heavy but it’s the closest thing to a dominant element. It’s slightly dry and most of the best work comes in the finish. There the light earthiness grows well and brings fair solid bitter with it.  In fact the finish lasts quite a while as well, and is one of the better elements of the beer.

Not a particularly thirst quenching beer for a bitter. It doesn’t have that slight sourness that the best of the style have. All in all not a great beer, it does the job, but it never looks above average.

Background: Drunk at the Assembly Inn as part of their beer festival over the weekend. The notes at the festival indicated that they couldn’t find any tasting notes for this on Google. Therefore I decided to give it a go and help out anyone looking for them in the future.