Ilkley Best

Ilkley is a small town in West Yorkshire not far from me and like many small towns in the north a small brewery has found great success. This current trend of small breweries brewing traditional ales and gaining the kind of success that not only sustains them but lets them grow really does put us in the midst of a golden era. Ilkely best is their flagship bitter and as a traditional Yorkshire bitter is certainly lives up to the beers its rich history has delivered in the past. This is a beer I received as a gift and thought it was enough of a departure from my usual fare of darker and/or Belgian beers I usually gravitate to to get a different blog then usual. I have recently started working for Buon Vino wine shop, the beer section though not large is stocked with a good few beers which you won't see many places so you can expect to see some interesting beers in this blog.
This beer though, it has a rich amber colour almost copper really. It isn't to different from bitters of its type but has an edge that does set it apart and had me intrigued. The nose was very different, very clean and fresh you could say it almost had a soapy edge but I wouldn't want to put you off as it defiantly smelt like a beer with some background hops and a little spice. The taste was again very soft and round with some toffee there somewhere. It was very dry and resiny bitter with some toasted malty flavours, decent length and a really good quench. The fizz was good and it had a decent froth. This beer is defiantly recommended and I look forward to trying more in the range, especially the stout.