Brewery: Greene King, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England

Brewery Description: “Strong Suffolk Vintage Ale is unique and unrivalled in this country. It’s a blend of two ales: Old 5X , which is brewed to the maximum strength possible (around 12% abv) and left to mature in 100-barrel oak vats for a minimum of two years, and BPA, a dark, full-bodied freshly brewed beer which is added just before bottling. The result is a unique beer – strong (6% abv), dark, fruity, oaky and very, very special!”

Brew Style: Old Ale, 6% ABV

Recommended Glassware: Dimpled mug, Stein

The Ugly Truth: Jesus, I’m not even sure what to say about this beer. So from the description this stuff appears to basically be a mixed beer where they took some stong, aged 12% ABV (which I would love to taste by itself) and cut it with some fresh beer. Kinda like mixing some cocaine with some baking soda to get some extra miles out of it. Not like I know anything about that though. It did pour a great dark red color, with a very nice head to it. The taste is a bit different. It’s kinda mellow tasting, with this kinda flat taste to it that was actually okay. It wasn’t a bad flatness, more like the flavor gets to a certain point but never goes passed it like you think its going to. It did have a pretty good oaky taste to it; not as sure about the fruity part. It was a good beer, not fantastic, but it’s worth a try if you like Old Ales, I think.

Verdict: Lawd above! A bi’ ov cockney says dis Pig’s Ear was alright. , innit. I’ll give i’ a Tom Mix (6) aaaht ov Cockle Cock an’ ‘en (10) bottlecaps . Nuff said, yeah?