Brewery: Northern
Location: Northwich, Cheshire, England
ABV: 5.5%
Version: Draught
Source: Trackside, Bury

When it comes to New Year’s Eve, Jo and I generally like to nip out early doors for some food, then have a couple of beers, then get ourselves home well before all the midnight-related nonsense kicks off. This year (last year?) we went to our favourite curry house for part one and then hopped on the tram up to Bury for part two, at the Trackside.

Glancing along the pump-clips I spotted Northern Two-Tone Special, which turned out to be a 5.0% ABV chocolate stout. Jo and I both partook and we were both pleased with the result: a drinkable, enjoyable stout with a hit of coffee up front, lots of roast malt and then some lingering chocolatey flavours to finish. Not as downright delicious as Marble Chocolate or Outstanding Stout, but still a fine, dark brew from a brewer whose beers I hadn’t encountered before.

Jo had a couple of halves (with some sort of vaguely Xmas-themed brew in-between, which she wasn’t so keen on) and I had a couple of pints, with a Breconshire Cribyn (Ed sampled the bottled version recently) to finish with as a bit of a palate-refresher. After that it was time for part three, although we diverted round to the next-door-but-one neighbours for a spot of first-footing, a go at their port-finish Balvenie and something involving hot apple juice and brandy. All in all, a very pleasant evening indeed.