Whilst brewing our second collaborative brew with Cat Asylum, a historic barley wine, we thought it fitting to drink a historic barley wine!

The King’s Ale

The beer in question was a version of Bass’ No.1 Barley Wine, that in February 1902 was mashed in by then wayward King Edward VII and thus dubbed the “King’s Ale”. Our bottle was discovered in an antique shop by James. The King’s Ale, and indeed several of Bass’ other special edition barley wines, was designed to be aged & so there are still bottles kicking about that, if stored properly, are still drinkable. Going by previous reviews about 1 in 3 bottles seem to still be good so we fancied our chances.

Indeed we were lucky! After removing the lead seal, we found that the wax seal beneath had not held and the cork had shrunk and moulded leaving only the bottom centimetre or so forming enough of a seal to keep the beer inside still drinkable, though somewhat oxidised. As James is a qualified beer judge, we have included his tasting notes below:

Aroma:

Cavendish Tobacco, Cederwood, Dried Figs.

Flavour:

• Fresh. Complex. No gas. Brilliant* & rich brown in colour.
• Dry with intense Maillard flavours, hinting at past sweetness.
• Prunes and Cederwood. Aged Sherry. Warming Alcohol.
• Strongly oxidized yet incredibly pleasant to drink.

*Beer was filtered through an Aeropress coffee filter to remove yeast & bits of cork. Some unfiltered beer was saved for comparison. Filtered version was considered best for tasting & drinking.

James Kerr 12th October 2017