By Jeff Evans

Nose

Toffee and fruit cake (juicy sultanas and raisins).

Palate

Loads of fruit cake, with more sultanas, raisins and glacé cherry notes. There's toffee, too, plus tangy hops biting away in the background. Slightly perfumed. Full flavoured but thankfully not cloying or dauntingly heavy.

Finish

Cherries and sultanas are immediately obvious, then dryness sets in and bitterness takes over.

Comment

A big-flavoured, ruby beer, but perhaps the fruit cake notes are a bit over the top. According to the label, a ‘springer' is a racehorse whose odds dramatically shorten just before a race.