Michael Jackson ***/**** World Classic, Pocket Guide to Beer p.107:
"The corked and bottle-conditioned Prize Old Ale has such a dry fruitiness, and alcoholic warmth, as to be reminiscent of a Calvados..."
Roger Protz, The Classic Bottled Beers of the World p. 117:
"Here is a beer that proclaims quality and antiquity. It comes in hand-corked, sealed and numbered bottles with a handsome label showing the brewery in Victorian times. It is brewed and fermented in old wooden vessels including some 'rounds' - rare iron-hooped fermenters."
Each bottle of Prize Old Ale is cork-finished, sealed, and numbered. Prize Old Ale is unfiltered and unpasteurized. It is brewed from floor malted Maris Otter and minute amounts of black malt. Hops are Fuggles, Goldings and Challenger. It is reddish in color with hops and apple fruit on the nose, spicy and malty in the mouth, and a dry, even tart fruity finish with hints of raisins and apple.
The slow work of the yeast in the bottle may increase the alcohol content to 12% or even more. After several years of aging Prize Old Ale gains a more complex palate with Calvados like character. It is said that Prize Old Ale is at its best after 20 years of maturing. e hop flavors and fruity estery flavors to predominate.
Prize Old Ale
Alc./Vol.: 9.0
Orginal Gravity: 1090
EBC: 90
IBU: 53
