2008 was something of a landmark year for me, beer-wise. Having started this ‘ere blog with Ed and Joe (we were later joined by Tim, of course) I got in touch with my inner scooper in a pretty big way. This resulted in frequent trips to the supermarket – or to the off-licence, or the delicatessen, or whichever liquor-retailing establishment I was passing at the time – to grab just about one of everything I’d not seen or sampled before.

As a result, and what with it being (let’s be totally honest) a lot less fiddly to drink the beer than it is to write up the tasting notes afterwards, I have something of a backlog. I’m now going to attempt to clear the majority of said backlog, in a series of mini tasting-notes (sipping notes) of three sentences or less, in roughly chronological order, based on the notes I took at the time. Which may or may not prove coherent enough to actually make sense. Time will tell. Here goes:

Young’s Christmas Pudding Ale (5.5% abv, bottled)
A 2007 limited edition, by all accounts. Tooth-cringingly sweet; a shot of intravenous marzipan. Not one I plan to risk my enamel with again.

Holt’s Touchwood (4.5% abv, draught)
One of Holt’s seasonal ales, on draught at our local, the Woodthorpe in Prestwich. A light, malty beer with a lingering, hoppy finish. Pale and easy-drinking, a definite session option.

Wharfedale Executioner (4.5% abv, bottled)
My Dad gave me this one at Xmas, 2007. A rich, red-brown ale with a subtle aroma but a potent mix of flavours; burnt coffee predominating. (Wharfedale has apparently since been acquired and re-named the Dark Horse brewery so not much chance of a re-visit here, unless they re-issue.)

O’Hanlons Goodwill Bitter (5.0% abv, bottled)
Another 2007 seasonal? A dark amber beer with a chewy flavour, citrus. Spiced, but not overpoweringly so.

Wychwood Bee’wyched (5.0% abv, bottled)
A pleasantly sweet, highly drinkable, golden ale delivering plenty of honey to the palate. Does exactly what it says on the label.

Greene King Fireside (4.5% abv, bottled)
Rich, red-brown in colour with plenty of malt, hints of caramel, citrus and spice. (So clearly much better than the pint of piss I was served when I ordered this one in London a couple of months ago.)

York Brewery Centurion’s Ghost (5.4% abv, draught)
Sampled at the York brewery tap, this one was definitely one of my beers of 2008: rich, dark, ruby-tinted, full-bodied, smooth-drinking nectar in a pint pot. Stunningly good, this is a session beer for the bold, or a sipper for the cautious. I’ll be hunting a Ghostly Centurion down the next time I’m in York and will produce some proper tasting notes when I do; it surely deserves a proper write-up at the very least.

York Brewery Stonewall (3.8% abv, draught)
Tried this one mid-session, in-between a couple of pints of Centurion’s Ghost. As a result, a direct quote: “Light, tasty, quite malty, easy-drinker, hoppy notes.” Best you’re going to get; needs a re-visit, clearly.

Harviestoun Haggis Hunter (4.4% abv, bottled)
A rich, malty, golden-amber ales that was apparently brewed as a Burns Night special last year. Hoppy after-taste and a hint of citrus; not too bad at all, but not one I’d dash to re-visit.

Bateman’s Victory Ale (6.0% abv, bottled)
Brewed to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar and named as one of the world’s 50 best beers in the 2007 Beer Challenge. I can see why: it’s a rich, sweet, malty, mid-brown ale with distinct toffee flavours that I’m definitely going to go back to one day soon. Deceptively drinkable; at 6.0% you’d need to be quick to find your sea-legs after a few of these.

Thwaites Lancaster Bomber (4.4% abv, bottled)
A lovely rich-red colour with a smooth, malty finish. Very drinkable. Might go back to this one sometime.

Jennings Cumberland Ale (4.2% abv, bottled)
A pale, golden-amber ale with a very mild, hoppy character that isn’t too harsh or bitter. Not exactly remarkable, but not at all unpleasant at all.

Right, I think that’ll do for Part I. Part II to follow in due course…

Brewery: O’Hanlons
Location: Exeter, England
ABV: 4.8%
Version: 500ml bottle

CAMRA Champion Bottle Conditioned Beer of Britain Gold Award 2003 & 2007

I didn’t know what to expect when I first got this. The idea intrigued me but I wasn’t sure I was going to like it. Mixing port and beer just seems asking for trouble. However, I’m glad I went for it.

As expected it pours a rich black colour with a slight reddish tint. The aroma is a lovely chocolately stout with a hint of smoke in the background, with the port adding some subtle wine notes. As far as taste goes it’s very smooth; chocolately, creamy, with some of the bitterness calmed down by the port but not overly so and some of that smokiness backing it all up. A very pleasant and enjoyable brew, certainly worth checking out.

Brewery: O’Hanlon’s
Location: Whimple, Devon, England
ABV: 5.0%
Version: 500ml bottle
Source: Tesco

I actually hope, for the sake of both brewer O’Hanlons (whose Port Stout I thoroughly enjoyed on the recommendation of both Ed and a best winter ales article in the Independent a while back) and the guy at Tesco who signed the contract, that this one had gone off in the bottle before I got to it. Because otherwise, what they have on their hands is a strange, sour-tasting, thoroughly nasty brew.

A light, hoppy aroma was promising enough, but the first taste had me grimacing and wondering whether I actually wanted to go any further. It possessed none of the sweetness and richness you often get from a stronger ales and definitely none of the “toffee and malt flavours derived from live conditioning” promised on the label. And yes, I did pour carefully to avoid sediment.

I struggled on for another few sips, but was eventually defeated as the taste just got more and more rank. About a fifth of the bottle went down under protest, but then the rest went down the sink and I turned to a trusty Hobgoblin to cleanse the palate and restore equilibrium.

Something very wrong here, surely? Alas, the only way to be sure would be to sample another bottle, and that’s not a risk I really feel like taking…