Brakspear Oxford Gold Beer Review

Every now and again I get the urge to have a proper old fashioned beer, something I'd have drank long before craft beers took over the world, a nice hefty stout, bitter, or IPA, and this urge caused me to buy Oxford Gold by Brakspear. Everything in the name sounds like a traditional English ale, and having been brewing beers for close to 250 years Brakspear certainly counts as a traditional Olde English brewer. These guys don't only brew beer they also have their own pubs, and I've visited a couple in my time, they are nice traditional ale holes so I feel like I'm in a safe pair of hands with this beer. 

Oxford Gold comes in a nice hefty 500ml bottle with the Brakspear bee buzzing around some flowers, it's a nice enough bottle. The beer pours a clear, almost orange gold with a good stable thick head, this really is a very good looking beer. At 4.6% alcohol this falls very nicely into the session ale category, and very much looks like something I could imagine sitting down to drink in a proper old country boozer. To be honest this looks like exactly the sort of beer I used to drink before falling in love with stouts and porters. It also has exactly the look of a beer I'd go for once I'd had too much of the black stuff. 

Oxford Gold has a surprisingly strong, but pleasant scent. It's pretty malty, but there's also lots of citrus and fruit smells in there, I like it, it looks nice, and it smells nice. The texture is exactly what you'd expect from a good golden ale, it's smooth, and easy to drink. The taste matches the smell, it's a really well balanced fruity bitter. Sure you'll taste some malts and hops too, you always can in this kind of drink, but for me this is much more fruity than I'd expect from a golden ale. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, it was just unexpected.

The fruit tastes certainly set Oxford Gold apart from most of the golden ales I've had in the past, which I'm choosing to count as a good thing. I think you have to be in the mood for a beer like this, you've got to be thinking I want something that tastes like British beers used to taste, and ideally be sat in a proper British pub. I really liked this beer more than I expected so well done Brakspear. Lets not get too carried away though it's well balanced, it's tasty, and it stands out a bit from beers of its type, but not enough to be considered exceptional. I'm happy to give Brakspear's oxford Gold a good, solid 7 out of 10.