For many, many years, I’ve been in love with Theakston’s Old Peculier. It’s just such a wonderfully flavorful, fruity dark malty Yorkshire Ale, packed with flavors of raisin and molasses, that I could drink it all day and on into the night. Thing is, here in America Old Peculier seems to be about the only beer from the Theakston brewery of Masham, England that I’ve come across. That is, if you don’t count Black Sheep Riggwelter, also from Masham, also a Yorkshire Ale, and from a brewery founded by a member of the Theakston family.

Hence, then, my excitement upon seeing Theakston XB on store shelves here in Georgia. If you’re wondering about the name, “XB”, the brewery explains as follows:

In the days when the only way to distinguish the contents from one cask to the next was by use of one of only two wooden stamps dipped in white wash and applied to each cask, the only letters available were either an X or a B. We could have called in BX but we preferred XB!

Theakstons XB seems to me an ESB in style. On the bottle, they call it “a classic English ale.” The beer is brewed with Fuggle and Bramling Cross hops and has an alcohol content of 4.5% by volume. A six-pack runs $9.99 here in Atlanta.

Theakston XB pours to a deep amber color with a medium sized creamy head formation and a buttery malty nose laced with herbal minty hop aroma. Taking a sip the beer is medium in body with a distinctive buttery flavor. Much like old peculiar, I get hints of dark fruits (raisin most notably) though in much lighter proportion. Toasted nuts and rum emerge, and in the finish some herbal, minty hop aroma followed by a surprisingly robust bitter hop buzz.

Theakston has yet another winner in my book with Theakston XB. This beer is wonderfully flavorful, eminently drinkable and decidedly more-ish. One bottle left me wanting another, and another. While not as robust as Old Peculier, it doesn’t have to be, and has a unique charm all its own.

I will definitely be back for more Theakston’s XB.



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