Ruddles Brewery's Ruddle County Ale

Ruddles Brewery was once set up by in Langham, Rutland; allegedly having more divots and holes than my parents' lane. George Ruddle bought it in 1912; obviously not called Ruddle Brewery prior to this purchase. It got sold off in 1986 where it was sold to a few other breweries, including Grolsh, but in 1997 it was sold to Greene King where it was moved to Abingdon (England's Binghampton) and later shut down. Local washerwomen and bitter neighborhood snoops been cracking wise on new Ruddles since leaving Langham arguing the well water in Langham gave the beer its great taste. Ruddles has been officially put on blast when it was labeled "Counterfeit" Ruddles by local beer snobs and dicks.

Sidenote: A commercial for Ruddles in 1994 featured the last appearance of Vivian Stanshall. If that doesn't tickle your pickle, it also included Mel Smith! Am I ready for a Ruddles? After seeing that, I'm not so sure.

Their website, which i have had open this whole time, is currently driving me insane with it's audible hooting and cawing. So, as my local beer snobs have already brought the hate to this guy and my growing frustration with these nature tracks on the website, I have already begun to pre-hate on these guys. However, to separate myself from my bear-snobby brethren, I gave these guys a second chance when I saw they had games on their website. My hopes and dreams were crushed as they were formed as the links we all busted. Just like Ruddles: Busted! They do seem to be advocates of games which I can easily respect but I find their website to be whack as shit.

Ruddles, themselves, brew four beers; Ruddles County, Ruddles Best, Ruddles Organic and Ruddles Rhubarb, and this is Ruddles County.

Ruddles County is a 4.7% ABV ale from England. The smell is a slightly hoppy, caramel aroma. The taste is complex floral and sweet hybrid that leaves a slight bitter, flowery taste in your mouth. It's crisp and refreshing, especially for a 4.7% beer with no overbearing strong alcohol taste you might get from a beer tasting this light. The bottle itself can be labeled as "weak sauce" and looks like a crappy horse saddle polish you might find at Wal-Mart. I picked it up for $4 for 500mL, which is the exact same cost a saddle polish at Wal-Mart.

The floral taste is a bit much for me but I can appreciate the taste. There are a lot of other ales I would go with instead of this. It kinda gives me the impression of what it tastes like after you walk through the perfume section at Macy's when you're Christmas Shopping and your mouth is open because your nose is stuffed up. i wouldn't get this again plus if all the other beer snobs in the world are going to hate on it since it moved, so will I. I'm a sheep.

Drinkability: 5/10

Taste: 4/10

Value: 4/10
Curb Appeal: 3/10

Overall: 4.0/10