Pride of Oxford - Oxfordshire Ales, Marsh Gibbon

I was looking for something simple to drink tonight. I need a night off from big, complex beers. I found this bottle of Oxfordshire Ales Pride of Oxford in the basement fridge and decided to see what they're so proud about. This beer comes in fairly simple looking bottle. It has a black and blue label with a picture of central Oxford on it. The beer pours pretty light and has a huge head. It smell like a mediocre Pale Ale, I'm hoping that's just because I've been spoiled with such amazing beer in the past two months.

The Pride of Oxford smells a little musty with an obvious pale malt backbone. There's a hint of honey and a touch of citrus, but that's about it. Simple, no frills and no surprises. The flavor is about as interesting as the aroma, which is to say it isn't. This beer is vaguely pale, it doesn't have pale malt or hops to really taste that much like the Pale Ales I'm used to. This beer just tastes kind of bland and empty. It's not horrible, it's just not something I'd look forward to drinking again. On the other hand, if it were in the middle of summer and I wanted a chilled beer to help me cool down, this would do.