Burton Bridge Old Expensive
Cask; Seasonal - Winter. Also available Bottle Conditioned.
A dark Winter Warmer normally produced between October and March but occasionally brewed for beer festivals at other times of the year.
Colour: Amber
Nose: Barley Wine aroma, Estery
Taste: Smooth & bitter with a barley wine taste
Hops: Target & Challenger
Malt: Pale, Chocolate & invert sugar
A dark Winter Warmer normally produced between October and March but occasionally brewed for beer festivals at other times of the year.
Colour: Amber
Nose: Barley Wine aroma, Estery
Taste: Smooth & bitter with a barley wine taste
Hops: Target & Challenger
Malt: Pale, Chocolate & invert sugar
3.3
177 reviews
Burton-on-Trent, England
Community reviews
500 ml. bottle. Pours a cloudy amber with a nice off-white head. Aroma of fruit and malt. Taste is malt, apples, grapes, yeast, caramel, and florals. Interesting dry finish. Good.
Sampled from a 19 oz brown bottle this beer poured a dark toffee color with a medium sized foamy orange-white head that lingered and left a bit of lacing. The aroma was tart and sour Pez. The flavor was dry, tart and sour Pez, chalk and had a medicinal presence. Long dry, tart, medicinal, Pez finish. Somewhat overcarbonated and thin. Pretty awful.
500, capped. Pours a cloudy dark amber with a sudsy tan head. Big treacly fruitcake nose. Creamy medium body with lively carb. Treacly fruitcake mid palate. Mild sweet finish.
Funny label and a super foamy pour. The aroma is light and bit fruity, with apple and yeast. A pretty mellow but still tasty ale. Complex, with yeast, lime, and crackers. Good, but not lovable.
500ml bottle from knightly spirits. FL VC #10. huge exploding off white head over a clear amber body. huge bret bomb nose. lovely flowery, bretty funky. the flavour is lightly fruity, with complex malt and an insanely dry finish. ORVAL CLONE. fuckin perfect!!!!
(Bottled) Ive liked Burton Bridge since I started drinking real ale -long before the micro boom thing in the UKthey were making innovative beers . . As has been mentioned by other raters ,Old expensive has a resemblance to Orval ... it could infected ? but its bretty, funky, flowery and with aromatic complexity that is hard to articulate . Other raters such as Dasiilky1 have mentioned this similarity ... Maybe every bottle I have tried has been infected ,but I dunno about that , not too sour or rank ... Thi is funky ass shit !
Cask (CWAF2012)
Yummy resiny hop aroma. Yellow grapefruit. Surprisingly light in the palate, was expecting something heavy. Rich and full, yes, smooth even, but not heavy. It’s the hops that crispen it up - it’s actually quite drying. Covers 6.5% well. Good one, would happily revisit this.
Aroma is strongly fruity, similar to a big ESB. The flavor is also fruity with an underlying note of raisins/grapes. A touch of alcohol in the finish is slightly off as English Ales, even Strong Ales, typically aren’t strong enough to notice the alcohol, other than that this was very good.
Big head, muddy brown. Aromas of sourdough bread. Dry; reminds a bit or Petrus winter. Not great.
On tap at The Wellington in Birmingham, pours dark amber / orangey brown. Aroma is light - of toffee and toasted malt. Flavour is more full and complex, featuring toffee, brown sugar, spices (nutmeg, cinnamon) and toasted malt.
Bottle, shared with the neighbours. Medium amber, hazy, bubbly head. Aroma of treacle, apple skins and faint plastic. Caramel flavour with tart lime and apple accents. Finish is short and tart. Nothing special really.
3rd February 2011
Chelmsford Winter Beer Festival. Clear amber beer, residual white head. Light dry palate. Nice dried fruits. Trace of dust. On okay malt base. Semi dry finish. Was hoping for more from this - a bit meh!
Cask. An amber beer with a thin beige head. The aroma has notes of malt and caramel as well as lighter notes of alcohol. The flavor is sweet with notes of malt, caramel, and honey, leading to a dry and bitter finish.
bottle with some guy in armor on the front -- hope it’s the same beer.
aroma is bright tart and slight funk backed by biscuity malt, also a lot of unripe green apple.
pours orange-copper with huge fine white foamy head that doesn’t go away.
flavor is weak and a bit sulfury.
texture is, for lack of a better word, crunchy -- extremely dry, slightly astringent, but not bad.
i don’t know what this is, but it’s interesting.
Bottle. Pours slightly hazy dark orange with a large, fluffy, light brown head. Very long retention, leaving chunky lacing. Aromas of yeast, cherry, bitter grass, and slight manure/horse (not in a bad way). Flavors of bitter grass and seeds, yeast, and a hint of some funk and barnyard/hay. Medium carbonation. Interesting.
Appearance: tan to amber with a big frothy head. Aroma: sour apples and burnt caramel; a little skunky. Taste: bitter hops up front, then a toasty malted dark bread. Finish: lingering sour bitterness. Notes: Weird that I got the bitter hops before the malt. Not great.
Cask (gravity) @ NWAF 10, National Winter Ales Festival, The Venue, Sheridan Suite, Manchester, England.
Clear medium amber color with a small to average, frothy, fair lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white to white head. Aroma is moderate malty, roasted, caramel, sweet malt. Flavor is moderate sweet and light to moderate bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to flat. [20100120]
500 ml bottle
For the price (about $4.50) this was an OK choice. I can’t say that I will be rushing back to buy more given all the other options on the shelves at local stores however. Something about this, whether it is the beer itself or the way it was stored at retail, left me indifferent about the final product. Were it a dollar or so cheaper I might be willing to pick it up again.
Aroma / Appearance - The surge of foam made me wonder what was going on. As the glass filled to the brim with soft pillowy bubbles there was hardly a drop of beer to be seen. Only after ten minutes did it finally settle down into a cloudy brown base. The smell of books rotting slowly on the shelf blends with maple syrup, sourdough bread, and paste. Very musty and old it has a "British feel" if such a thing exists.
Flavor / Palate - Chewy caramel bites (like the Halloween sized Twix) and vintage hops rest lightly on the tongue. Warm tea and scones begin to rise as it moves towards the throat. Somewhere in the transition is a heat not unlike the sort of "spiciness" that many American consider extreme but is actually very tame by international standards. One big drawback was a hint of soured milk. Other than that flaw this was safe, boring, but decently crafted.
Sweet alcohol aroma with a light amount of caramel and wood. Hazy light brown color with a large white head and lots of carbonation. Lightly sweet beginning that fades in the finish. Thick but with a low viscosity palate.
Cask. Clear amber golden with a small off-white head. Rather neutral aroma - perhaps a little nuts. Medium body, nuts and a little caramel with a vaguely fusty edge. Rather alcoholic finish. 200110
Cask at redlight redlight. pours a cloudy amber. not totally sold on the nose. very malty. some notes of banana, foot and ripe fruit. pretty interesting but i’m having trouble getting the olfactory around it. The flavor is definitely and improvement on the nose. The banana comes out. Actually takes the form of fried plantains. fairly sweet malt notes plus a little hint of earthy funk. not my favorite, but not bad either and certainly worth a try.
cask @ redlight redlight. Caramel malts on the nose sweet with hints of alcohol. Pours amber with a thin white head. Caramel upfront with hints of brown sugar then grassy hops with a dry finish. Not overly strong in flavor, despite the 6.5% abv I definitely could have a couple of these! Very nice beer!
Cask at Deep Ellum, Boston. Well-served. Copper color, surface head, fantastic lacing. Aroma of black pepper, malt, lime. Taste is bitter from start to finish, smoky edge, dry finish. Classic example of the style. top notch.
Cask at the Cambridge Blue, Cambridge. Bright gold with a thin white head; heady, fruity aroma with apricot and cherry; thick oily body with the same fruity flavours and unctious chewy malts; the finish is dry with some sour fruit and a rounded gentle bitterness and no sign of the alcohol, so not as warming as promised, but nevertheless an excellent strong ale.
pours a clear amber with heavy carbonation, a bubbly off-white head, and some lacing.
smell is faint, caramel, and malt.
taste is tangy, caramel, sour malt, a touch of citrus, and a little metallic, ends a somewhat bitter.
Gravity cask at the Watford BF 09. Deep brown with a beige head. Malty aroma with noticable Burton snatch. Fruity and rounded with balancing floral hoppiness. Rather good.
Leo’s, South Point, OH - Not nearly as dark as I believe an ESA should be but Old Expensive does offer something unique. The nose and subsequent flavor of the brew is somewhat lemon peel, a tinge of alcohol which is unusual for such a low ABV beer, and sa fresh-leather scent. A bit peppery and dry but refreshing no doubt. I can imagine drinking this beer during the holidays. A good mouthful for the style makes this beer not too "Old" and not that "Expensive" so try it out.
Bottle: Beautiful very deep copper with a creamy dense light tan head. The aroma is spicy, fruity, wild with brett character, leather, cherry pit, soft plummy malt notes, vinous notes- complex! Creamy fluffy body with a clean texture. Very soft plum & fig malt background. Very dry and spicy overall with lots of brett (Brux) rustic character. Some leather, fruity spiciness, cherry pit with a long spicy dry finish with lots of bitter fruit skin. Complex, silky, balanced and delicious. Extremely underrated.
Dark orange-red, fluffy off white head. Aroma is fruity, citrus, nice light hop spiciness, sweet malt, light acidity and brett. Taste is caramels, more fruits, apples, dry and bretty finish with mingling grassy, spicy hop bitterness. Fantastic beer.
Pours an off-white head and a golden amber body. Funky all around in flavor and aroma.