I did a split-batch with WLP009 and WY1469 2.5 months ago. It was meant to be a straightforward English bitter; bittered with Northdown and flavoured with Northdown and EKG but attenuation beyond the claimed range meant that both fermentations delivered a 4.9% ESB strength ale.
Both batches have had plenty of time to settle, and the results are in!
The 1469 yeast was about a month old when it arrived and post-fermentation cleared perfectly in the bottle. The flavour notes were crisp, bright, fruity, spicy and very reminiscent of Sam Smiths beers. Being the Yorkshire tightwad that I am (I used to live in the next village to the Sam Smiths brewery) I drink a fair bit of Sam Smiths in central London and I definitely picked up that Sam Smiths character in the beer. It tasted like the Brewery Bitter.
The 009 was about 6 months old when I received it; at the long end of the best-before date and during a very hot summer. It maintained a haze in the bottle even after 2.5 months. You'd think this would be a bad thing; but it wasn't. The beer tasted smooth, slightly sulphurous, rich and characterful on the palette. If someone told you it was was London Pride then you'd have no reason to doubt it. It tasted like an old London bitter.
Conclusion? If 009 comes out on a vault release then I'll be in the queue to get it. Even with the haze issues it had a cask-like character that I long for in a bitter.
