Ah, Berkshire.  It’s the next county along to Oxfordshire, you know…and guess what, we share a common dialect too.

As per the explantion on the bottle: “Good Old Boy” can be used to describe someone who is a decent sort; and, more interestingly, can also be used as a substitute for “Thanks” when someone agrees to do something for you…so: “Thanks for agreeing to do that, you’ve been very helpful” gets shortened to “Good Old Boy…”

“My Old Boy” is also what my Dad refers to me as, when talking to other people.  Mind you, I refer to him as “My Old Man“.  Other people’s Dad’s can be referred to as “Your Old Boy“.

It’s a confusing business living in this neck of the woods, but we get by.

Anyway, this particular “Good Old Boy” when in a glass is a fine deep-red mahogany colour with a lovely clarity, the head pretty much instantly disappears…but it’s none the poorer for that…

Nose-wise I get nice malt and minerals, some warm woody notes and faint berry fruits, a very clean and uncomplicated aroma.

A nice attack of bitterness when sipped leads into heavy darker malts with a tinge of minerality from the almost certainly Burtonised/ treated water…after that follows a satisfying creaminess that dovetails into the bitter, flinty trailing edge of the aftertaste.  I’d love to think that there was wood involved in the brewing process somewhere as I keep thinking that woodiness is due to vanillin/lignin, but I somehow doubt it…

So in summary, quite enjoyable, but suffering the same old problem with all bottled bitters and ales…too much fizz…I bet it’s smashing on tap…