Jennings, Cumberland Ale, 4.2% ABV

Cumberland Ale is a sweet, medium-bodied beer. Its flavour contains grapefruit and malts, though rather bitter. The aftertaste is citrus, sharp, though perhaps straw. This beer is moderately carbonated, with a fizzy, sharp, and slightly bitter texture. Its head it not much to talk about, but the aroma is lovely, emitting fruit, yeast and malt. The hops in this beer try to break through, but somehow fail to quell the sharpness. Overall, it’s a decent beer.

Jennings, Cocker Hoop, 4.2% ABV

This is yet another beer that seems to improve each time I have it. At first, I would have said it was a bit too sharp, and had the word “average” written all over it. That soon changed. The flavours in the foretaste are of candy (perhaps sherbett) with suggestions of orange in there too, accompanied by a pleasant fizz. Hints of sharpness surface in the finish, but fail to quell the lovely fresh hops and fruit, specifically apples, with a fizz this time felt far to the back of the throat.

The head is little to talk off – it dissipates to a ring, sometimes leaving bubbly lacing on the sides of the glass. The beer is sweet to medium-sweet, full-bodied, with a scents of candy and perhaps oranges and apples. The texture is smooth, though fizzy.

Jennings Sneck Lifter, 5.1% ABV

A beer that seems contradictory. At first, I thought it was a very dry beer. Over the years, I began to consider it very sweet. The appearance is dark to dark-golden in colour, with a smooth, bubbly, creamy head of froth that starts off like a mousse but later vanished to a thin layer. Sneck Lifter is a full-bodied English beer with low to medium fizz.

The flavour is an enticing charcoal, with lots of roasted malt. It is burnt, and, I suppose, rather sweet, with a hint of fizz in the first taste. The charcoal remains in the aftertaste, where it is also reminiscent of a stout. This is mixed with mustiness and a very slight hint of strawberries and sugariness.

Sneck Lifter has a liquorice aroma, burnt and roasted, with sweet chocolate and those almost-hidden strawberry hints again. The mouthfeel can aptly be described as rather rough and woody - rugged, one might say, with fizz and smoothness. The texture is also burnt and very sweet. It is a lovely, full-bodied, wholesome beer.