Tally-Ho ABV c7.0%
Adnams Tally-Ho
Tasting Notes
Brewed with Pale Ale, Crystal and Brown malts. Tally Ho is dark Mahogany red in colour with a rich, fruity aroma and a heart warming sweet raisin and biscuit palate.
What’s the story?
Tally Ho is a limited edition Barley wine style beer, brewed at Adnams since 1880. Traditionally a Christmas beer, and brewed in October in limited quantities, many pubs lay a cask down like fine wine and save it for special occasions throughout the year.
Want to know more?
From December 2009, Tally Ho will be available in 330ml bottles.
Adnams Tally-Ho in the bottle
The abv of Tally Ho in cask varies year on year – we measure it just before it goes out and the pubs display the information in the pub rather than printed on the pump clip, as is the norm. In cask it is usually less than 7%, the bottle will be 7.2%.
Brewed at the same time as the cask beer, each year’s vintage will be unique and can be laid down like a fine wine. Bottled Tally Ho will have natural sediment, as it is bottle conditioned – some yeast is left in the beer so that it continues to mature in the bottle so please pour carefully.
(2.4 units per bottle)
You can buy Tally Ho online now.
Tally-Ho Reviews
The Ormskirk Baron rating [5/5] and audio review.
Ratebeer.com 79% rating
The lighter side of beer review.
Bolg o’ Beer review.
Hi,
Just to let you know we will be serving 2008 Tally Ho at our winter beer festival from 24th feb 2010 until 27th feb unless it runs out befor then! Will let you know whats its like later, or come and try some your self!
Cheers,Jethro,the cambridge blue
Hi David
The beer won’t get any drier but you should find that the bitterness mellows still further which will make the beer taste smoother with age. If the bitterness next year is lower it will make the beer taste sweeter even with the same level of dryness. I will let you know if anyone in Woodbride has Tally Ho on from last year.
It has always varied slightly year to year, of course, but has never (in my memory, at least!) lost that sweet, luxurious richness (hasn’t it also lost its exclamation mark? I was sure it was Tally Ho! right up to last year, now it’s plain old Tally Ho).
Possibly it will mature more through December but, if it’s already been maturing since July, I assume that will be fairly minimal and remain a much drier ale than in the past. If brewing in July is to be the norm, will it tend to remain drier and more bitter in future years?
I’m in Woodbridge, BTW.
Hi David, Sorry to hear you have not enjoyed this years Tally Ho. It is actually the same recipe as last year but there might be a couple of things that you are picking up on.
Tally Ho is meant to be a seasonal brew in the true sense of the word and as such will vary according that seasons malted barley and hops. Unlike other brews we allow those seasonal variations to show up so that each years brew is unique. One of the reasons we don’t put the abv on the pump clip is that this variability will lead to different abv levels each year. Also this year we brewed the beer in July to allow it to mature here. This is reverting back to how the beer would have traditionally been brewed. Several pubs have kept this practice of aging the beer alive by serving Tally Ho throughout the year following it’s release. This year we decided to do a little of this maturation at the brewery.
The bitterness is a little higher than last year and the extra maturation here will lead to a slightly drier taste which will accentuate the bitterness. Over time this bitterness will mellow even more and hope fully you will find it more to your taste.
In the meantime I know of a few pubs that are serving last years Tally Ho now, The Sole Bay in Southwold and The Thatchers arms in Essex, if you let me know where you are I can try and find out if anyone near you is doing likewise.
We are very disappointed in the Tally Ho! this year.
The recipe has clearly changed significantly and now, instead of being the rich, strong, sweet ale that has improved year by year (last year was generally agreed to be the best brew in recent years), this year is a more bitter, burnt sort of taste, probably with a great deal of coffee taste(?) in it. Why was this necessary when it was almost perfect as it was?
A great shame, I hope it will be back to its normal self next year.