The mask slips

Brand extensions are nothing new, and the big English ale breweries in particular are no strangers to them. They've invested heavily in their flagships so they (or their accountants) must feel that such assets are worth giving a firm squeeze now and again.

Timothy Taylor has taken the odd step of turning a pre-existing beer into a brand extension. Once upon a time they had a dark ale called Ram Tam, the pumpclip featuring a hardworking labourer. More recently he has thrown away his cap, peeled off the false moustache and revealed himself to be the beer-pumping landlord of Landlord; Ram Tam now renamed Landlord Dark.

It's a fair move: Ram Tam was only ever Landlord with added caramel. It's just unusual to see a brewery admit it. It looks well, though. I particularly liked the yellowing nicotine colour of the head, resembling a strong and wholesome stout, even if the beer under consideration is only 4.1% ABV.

The aroma is sweet and fruity: lots of very obvious hard caramel, sitting next to softer plum and raisin. The flavour is rather less complex. I was hoping that Landlord + caramel would unlock some new dimension of taste, but I could not perceive anything other than a quite hop forward English bitter -- meadow blossoms and earthy minerality -- spiked with thick and gloopy treacle. It's sticky, not wholesome, and the two aspects don't meld well together. The label promised chocolate and roasted malt, like a proper dark ale, but the flavour doesn't deliver that. I'm curious as to what I would have thought of it before I knew how it was constructed, but now I'll never know.

It's not awful, by any means, and if you're a fan of bottled Landlord, there's plenty for you here, which is of course the point of brand extensions. I had no problem drinking through it but it left me hankering after something dense and dark and properly formulated.