Brewery: Thornbridge [The Port Street Beer House, Manchester

Last Saturday, after mooching around Manchester City Centre looking for new boots, Jo has one of her genius ideas: “Let’s have lunch at Rice and then head down the Port Street Beer House for a pint.” And that, folks, is the secret to 14 years – and counting – of happy marriage: no kids + free weekends + a shared interest in Going To The Pub = wedded bliss… but I digress.

The place was fairly quiet when we got there, just after 1.30 or so. And on the bar was a new (to me) Thornbridge brew: Maniola. A quick chat with the barman established that it was a dark, winter beer and weighing in at an upper session-strength 4.8% ABV, it sounded like the perfect pint for a chilly February afternoon. Just had to be done.

It was spot-on: buckets of rich, roast chocolate malt flavour, cut through with a deliciously spicy bite. There wasn’t a distinct, stand-out flavour note to it, but rather an extremely well-balanced blend of characteristics that combined to make a very drinkable, very smooth, very toothsome winter warmer.

If we’d been staying for longer than two pints I’d definitely have had another, but they had Dark Star Six Hop on draught as well, and that just had to be done, too.

In the excellent company of Jo and our good friend Paul, I made my way down to the National Winter Ales Festival at the Sheridan Suite yesterday evening. Jo and I stopped off for suitably beer-soaky food on the way down (if you’re heading to the NWAF via public transport and are wondering about food on the way, I can heartily recommend Rice in Piccadilly Gardens – purveyors of extremely fine and fast Asian fusion cuisine by the carton-load) and then hopped on the bus for the short ride to the venue.

We flashed our CAMRA cards at the door and were waved in (Thursday’s session being free for CAMRA members, tonight and tomorrow are also £1 off on the door), then handed over a quid for a programme (Jo loves to do the research), another two quid for the cloakroom and then four quid for a couple of souvenir half-pint tankards (pint glasses also available, deposit refundable on exit if you don’t want to keep your glass). Then we met up with Paul and started to think about drinking a beer or two.

This was the first time any of us had been to a National CAMRA festival and we were all quite taken aback by the sheer size of the venue, the crowd (happily busy even for a Thursday, tonight and tomorrow could be absolutely hammered) and the range of beers on offer. The last decent-sized festival we were all at was the SIBA Great Northern, back in October, where they had something like 56 beers from a choice of 200 on offer at one time. Yesterday it seemed as though every one of the programme beers was available at once – some on hand-pull, the majority on gravity dispense – and the choice truly was bewildering.

Luckily, Paul had a decisive brainwave: “Let’s find an IPA to start with.” So we did; after scanning along all four bars we settled on halves of Summer Wine Diablo. 6.0% ABV and a rich, golden amber hue, it gave off a waft of marmalade aromas and the flavour was all about the sticky, sweet oranges and hops. If I’m honest, I could have done with something lighter and fresher to start the session with. It reminded me a lot of the pint of Moor Hoppiness I’d tried in the Marble Arch a while back; I was a bit over-faced by that one as well. Ah well, onwards and upwards.

Next up, one that I’d spotted being recommended on Twitter earlier in the day: Milton Nero. A 5.0% ABV stout, gravity dispensed so I was expecting something flat as a pancake, but still, the lack of conditioning on this one surely didn’t do it any favours. Flavour-wise, it was milk chocolate on a biscuit base and not much else to it. I thought I’d p-p-p-picked up a Penguin. Paul said dark chocolate digestive. Jo reckoned it reminded her of bourbon (again, the biscuit, not the malt liquor). Coupled with a lack of depth and a thin mouth-feel, it meant this multi award-winning beer failed to impress on the night and I was very glad I was only drinking a half. Time to try something a little more adventurous, perhaps?

How about Black Isle Hibernator, a 7.0% ABV oatmeal stout; surely that should pack a tasty and interesting punch? Disaster. Sugar, sugar, a touch of fruit cordial, more sugar and very little else… reminded me of nothing so much as blackcurrant cough syrup. I couldn’t even finish a half of this one, I had to ask a bar volunteer to dump it in the slops bucket for me and I rather wished I’d taken the hint when the chap who served me asked “a half?” in a very “we serve the stuff in thirds as well, you know…” kinda way.

By this point – despite the ongoing excellence of the company and the hugely enjoyable conversation – I have to admit I was beginning to feel a little despondent. Three beers so far and none of them had managed to hit the spot. I realised early on that the lack of conditioning wasn’t helped by the fact that none of the hand-pumps had sparklers, but I didn’t want to ask if there were any in the room (I knew that Tandleman, that stalwart champion of the sparkler, was one of the festival organisers, so if he hadn’t been able to impress on them the key role of the small, plastic nozzle, then surely a request from me wasn’t going to sway anyone). But still, was I going to be doomed to an evening of flat, warm beer? That was the other problem – the room, large though it was, was extremely stuffy and even with the cooler jackets on the casks, surely that wasn’t helping the beer quality at all?

Or maybe I just had my festival tactics wrong. I was mindful of something that The Reluctant Scooper said a while back about how he used to seek out beers by breweries he’d never heard of, just to find yet another variant on boring brown beer, whilst something excellent he already knew went un-drunk. Should I in fact be sticking to what I knew, or at least, beers by breweries I was familiar with, rather than trying to expand my horizons? Or would I be better off drinking my favourite beers in my favourite pubs, in much better condition? A dilemma and no mistake.

I eventually settled on erring on the side of caution and went for a third pint measure of a beer I knew: Dunham Massey Winter Warmer. I had happy memories of this 6.6% ABV winter ale, and even on gravity pour, I’m happy to say that it restored a smile to my face last night: sweet and rich, with hints of sherry and lots of malt, it was a pleasant pick-me-up after a disappointing start to the session.

After that, Paul was in IPA-mode again so I suggested, and then joined him on, a half of Worthington’s White Shield. An old favourite and another great fall-back… rich and malty with a big hop hit on the after-taste, just what the beer doctor ordered. It still could definitely have done with a sparkler, but it wasn’t all that different to the bottled version, so I was happy enough.

Then I strayed again. Possibly my judgement was getting a bit lax, possibly my ‘stick to what you know’ strategy was beginning to feel too safe, what with all these potentially amazing new beers around to try, but I decided that I liked the sound of Liverpool Organic‘s Russian Imperial Stout. Surely, surely this 8.6% ABV imperial stout couldn’t be another dud? Yeah, yeah, the triumph of hope over experience… again, it turned out to be another massively sweet, sugary beer, with just the faintest touch of liquorice. But seriously: where were the roast malts, where were the sharp, bitter coffee notes, the rich seams of dark chocolate? Where was the flavour? I managed to finish the third pint I’d ordered but again, was rather disappointed. Time for one last roll of the dice, before heading home.

At the start of the evening I’d spotted a beer called Matron’s Delight – from one of my very favourite breweries, local outfit Outstanding – and had been saving it for the end. I could trust good old Outstanding not to let me down, not with an 8.0& ABV strong winter ale, couldn’t I? They certainly didn’t. At last, a beer with some actual condition and flavour! First of the night with a head (of sorts), Matron’s Delight delivered deep, rich fruit flavours – blackberries and plums – in a sweet (but not too sweet) spiced-fruitcake of a beer. It was very lovely indeed and I was very glad to find a redeemer at the very end of a largely lacklustre session.

So, there you go. A night of distinctly mixed results. At best I discovered a delicious new beer from a favourite brewery and re-acquainted myself with a couple of old favourites. At worst, I tried a few beers that just didn’t taste all that great. But the really annoying thing was that I ended up disliking three beers that under other circumstances – had then been served differently – I rather think I would have absolutely loved. I mean, strong oatmeal stout, imperial stout, malty chocolate stout? These are the sorts of beers what I usually thoroughly enjoy. Last night though, it just wasn’t the case.

Feel free to tell me where I went wrong with my selection strategy, or tell me about all the absolutely fantastic beers I missed because they were on the pump / cask just next door to the ones I tried, or tell me that I was just expecting too much in terms of beer quality at a large beer festival. But I’ll still say this: the SIBA Great Northern Festival was head and shoulders above the NWAF on that front and I think it was all down to a combination of two factors: the use of a sparkler to provide proper condition in the served beer, plus the simple, but rather civilised procedure of swapping your glass for a clean one whenever you went to the bar. Okay, maybe the sheer size of the NWAF would make this second measure a logistical impossibility. But I stand by my assertion that all the beers I had last night would have tasted so much better if they’d been served sparkler-style. Feel free to correct me if a technicality (something to do with the behaviour of a beer at room rather than cellar temperature, perhaps?) makes me completely wrong on that score, but that’s my position and I’m sticking to it for now.

And as a result, whilst I’ll definitely be making time to visit next year’s SIBA Great Northern on at least two evenings, I’m going to have to have a good think about next year’s NWAF. Unless I can come up with a better plan for identifying the good quality stuff (Jo rekcons I should have spent more time reading the brochure, which is a fair point, but then she studied it in detail and yet her luck was about as mixed as mine; she had to ditch two of the beers she tried to my one) and some simple method for cleaning the glass between beers (a bottle of water in my pocket for a quick rinse should do it) then I think I’d rather spend the night down the Marble Arch, the Angel, Fringe, Common, or the Port Street Beer House (which opens in Manchester at the end of the month and sounds amazing) instead. Because that way I’ll be able to sample just as many different beers in the course of an evening, and at least I’d know that they would all be served in tip-top condition.

Xmas Eve

I can tell you the exact moment that Xmas 2010 started. It was early in the evening of December 24th, when I suddenly realised that I was sitting in my favourite pub (The Marble Arch, Manchester), with my favourite person in the whole world (my missus, Jo), listening to one of my very favourite songs (‘Vagabonds’) by one of my all-time favourite bands (New Model Army), whilst supping a rather excellent pint of beer (a rich, fruity, roast-malt chocolatey Marble Port Stout), which the lass behind the bar had recently informed me was completely free of charge (I think the Marble Arch has an annual tradition, or an old charter, or something). Now, if that’s not my own personal idea of Xmas perfection, then I really don’t know what is.

And that was just the start of the evening. From there I moved on – not wanting to abuse our host’s hospitality too much – to a full price pint of Ossett Winter’s Tale; a 5% ABV dark-amber ale with a thick tan head and a rather lovely mouth-feel. This one delivered a rich, malty, chocolate base note, with a lightly spiced, dry finish. It was very pleasant indeed. Jo and I weren’t able to stop too long as the trams stopped running at nine, so we just had time for one more after that. Earlier in the evening I’d exchanged season’s greetings with Opening Times editor John Clarke, so what with him being a big fan of the Belgian beers, I asked him for a recommendation from the Marble Arch’s bottled Belgians menu.

John had no hesitation in suggesting I go for the St Feuillien Triple, an 8.5% ABV golden Belgian and in John’s words, “the best triple in Belgium”. I’d already tried this one back in October last year at another Belgian-loving friend’s recommendation, and I had no hesitation in giving it another go. St Feuillien Triple delivers a huge flavour-burst: massive hops up front with a sweeter note dancing on top; grapefruit sharpness followed on, with herbal, faintly liquorice, slightly medicinal highlights. A quite delicious slow-sipper to savour.

The one minor disappointment of the evening was the blackboard at the end of the bar, which was advertising draught halves of Marble’s Chocolate Dubbel. But when I asked, I was told they’d run out earlier on and now only had the 750ml bottles left. So there was only one thing to do: head on home and crack open the bottle that I’d been saving since I bought it back in November. It was another big, boozy, deliciously dark beer, packed full of rich cocoa flavours and smooth as silk. I happily sipped that one over the course of an hour or so whilst catching up with a few Xmas specials on the telly box. Lovely stuff, highly recommended. I can see another couple of those coming home with us next time we visit the Marble Arch, if they’ve got any left by then.

Xmas Day

Round about two of the clock, as I stood there in the kitchen – elbow-deep in sprout-trimmings, gluten-free stuffing mix and streaky bacon rashers – I realised something was missing: a glass of beer. So I reached for a bottle of Hook Norton Twelve Days, which I’d picked up in Selfridge’s earlier in the year. Dark, chocolate malt flavours characterised this 5.%% dark ale, along with lighter, spiced highlights. It was quite delicious and the perfect accompaniment to Xmas dinner (lemon, garlic & thyme chicken, with all the trimmings). An all-round winner in the winter warmer stakes and far too good to only drink at Xmas. I tried to stock up the other day, but Selfridges in Manchester had run out. Somehow I’m not surprised.

After dinner, it was time for a drop of Harveys Tom Paine Ale. This 5.5% ABV golden amber ale was packed full of tangy, sweet, orange-citrus hop flavours and light spices, as well as honey, marmalade and perhaps the faintest hint of whisky-smoke. Very tasty indeed; a rather excellent after-dinner palate refresher. Next up: Hook Norton Old Hooky. This one is a darker, maltier, but no less refreshingly tasty cousin of one of my personal faves, Hooky Gold, and it’s one that I’ll definitely be buying again when the opportunity arises.

Later in the evening, after a round of family phone calls and a bit of a sit down in front of the telly, it was time for Xmas pud. And what better to accompany that than a glass of Het Anker Gouden Carolus Christmas? This 10.5% ABV Belgian seasonal special was a glorious riot of sweet, fruity flavours; with its rich, dark-sugar malt base and an explosion of cherries, dark berries and ripe bananas it’s definitely one for the sweeter-toothed palate. Jo thought it tasted like highly alcoholic Vimto. I thought it tasted like liquid fruit cake. Either way, it was delicious and almost as good as the draught version I’d enjoyed at the Marble Arch last Xmas. And yes, it went fantastically well with our Xmas pud and brandy cream.

Boxing Day

Another day at home with not much to do but eat, drink and be merry in front of the TV. After a couple of regulars – a Fuller’s Bengal Lancer and a Black Sheep Ale – I reached for a couple of seasonals that I’d saved over from our trip to Beer Ritz in Leeds back in December ’09.

First up – accompanying the traditional cold meat with bubble and squeak dinner – was Ridgeway Very Bad Elf. As far as I know, this 7.5% ABV dark ale is brewed primarily for the US export market and I think it’s one of a few ‘Bad Elf’ variants. It turned out to be quite a bit lighter that I’d expected – golden amber rather than darker brown – but it still had a smooth, luxurious mouth-feel and a warming chocolate malt-sweetness, plus hints of sherry or maybe whisky. There really wasn’t much hop action from this one at all and the alcohol hit was noticeable but not at all harsh. All in all, another deliciously, dangerously drinkable winter warmer. One for the keep-an-eye-out-for list, most definitely.

Finally, I finished the evening off with Hepworth’s Vintage Christmas Ale. Another boozy, 7.5% ABV winter ale, this one poured a mid-amber colour and had a slight sour edge to the underlying sweetness – maybe from the herbal flavours, cloves in particular, in the mix – over a malty base, with good hop notes and a light dryness to the after-taste. It was pleasant enough, just not as great as some of the others I’d tried. Of all the Xmas beers I tried this year, I think this is the one I’d probably give a miss in future.

So there you have it: three days’ worth of relaxing and feasting, helped along by a selection of (mostly) terrific beers. That’s what I call Xmas!

Yesterday I made my last work-related London trip of 2010 and took full advantage of one more opportunity to visit The Euston Tap.

But first a very important end-of-year review-type meeting with my boss who, being a bloody good bloke, was more than happy for us to hold said meeting over the road from our office at the Black Friar (see Travels With Beer for a photo gallery of the rather magnificent interior) and he got the beers in as well.

The Black Friar being a Nicholson’s pub, you’ve usually got a good chance of finding something half-decent on the pubs, but I was particularly delighted to spot a Thornbridge pump-clip and one I’d not seen before, to boot: Wild Holly. I’m guessing this is a new Thornbridge beer for winter 2010 (guessing because there’s no info on the Thornbridge website yet).

Wild Holly was dark and should have been delicious – plenty of dark brown sugar flavours, with hints of cherry and spices, all very pleasant indeed – but the mouth-feel was desperately thin, particularly for a 5% ABV winter ale, which rather spoiled the overall effect. If ever there was a beer that was screaming out for a sparkler, this was it. I’d definitely want to try this one again, but not unless the pub in question was likely to serve it up in better condition.

So, on to the Northern Line and up to the Euston Tap. Wandering in, I spotted and occupied a spot at the end of the bar and got cracking on my two target-beers for my quick visit. The first of these was the Thornbridge / Dark Star collaboration, Thornstar.

This one is a 4.7% ABV Black IPA – a style I’m becoming very fond of – brewed with a CaraFa roast malt base and several varieties of New Zealand hops: Pacifica, Southern Cross and Nelson Sauvin. It poured (via sparkler!) dark and beautifully full-bodied, with a creamy white head. Rich malt flavours gave an impression of gentle sweetness, with hints of dried fruit & chicory. This sweetness gave way to a drier, hoppier finish and stronger coffee flavours came into play towards the end of the half. Lovely stuff.

Next up: a half of Anchor Christmas 2010. This is the thirty-sixth annual Christmas brew from the Anchor Brewery in San Francisco. It’s rare to find Anchor beers on draught over here, so I was particularly keen to give this one a go.

The beer poured with an almost opaque dark body and faint ruby highlights, with a thin head and not much aroma. This 5.9% ABV beer had plenty of rich roast-malt flavours, and was subtly cinnamon-spiced with a dry-sharp, gingery after-burn. Bizarrely though, the dominant flavour seemed to be Coca-Cola, which threw me a bit, I have to admit (I’m not mad keen and haven’t drunk the stuff for years). It wasn’t unpleasant but I think I was expecting something fruitier and richer. I definitely preferred both the Thornstar and my last swift half of the evening: Matuška Black Rocket.

This Czech import – another black IPA, it must have been my lucky night – had a gorgeous mouth-feel, with a sweet, malty base delivering hints of sherry and coffee on the after-taste A very smooth-tasting beer with a lovely roast-malt, dry-hop balance. One of those beers I could happily drink all evening, but at 6.8% ABV probably shouldn’t.

Apologies if the notes were a little sparse on that last one, but by this point Jeff, the legendary landlord of the Gunmakers in Clerkenwell had wandered over, having spotted me down the end of the bar and recognised me from the last time Jo and I were down in London. He introduced me to Yan, landlord of the Tap, and I’d already started nattering to the bloke next to me at the bar – a local CAMRA stalwart by the name of Errol – so the four of us had a good old natter about beers, pubs and all sorts of stuff (that’s one of the things about the Euston Tap: it’s very easy to strike up a conversation with pretty much anyone in there). Couldn’t really make notes on my phone halfway through, would have been unforgivably rude of me…

So, that’s my last visit to London for this year, and my last visit to what is rapidly becoming one of my very favourite pubs. I’ll definitely be back next year. Often.

Brewery: Cropton Brewery
Location: Cropton, North Yorkshire, England
Style: Spiced Winter Ale
ABV: 6.2%
Version: Bottled
Source: Marks & Spencer

M&S Yorkshire Winter Ale – brewed for them by Cropton Brewery in North Yorkshire – is the second of three new winter ales that I picked up at the main M&S branch in Manchester recently, along with their Wiltshire Rum Beer and Southwold Winter IPA.

Popping the cap releases a flood of spicy aromas and pouring the dark brown ale results in a second wave. Those spices are up-front and centre in the flavour-profile as well: the label suggests I can taste a melange of clove, cassia (I had to look that one up, turns out it’s basically cinnamon), star anis and nutmeg; can’t find much to argue with there. And this mini-mountain of spices is balanced on a deep chocolate-malt base with a decent alcohol-hit and strident orange-citrus notes running throughout.

I recently suggested that it can be tricky to find a good Xmas ale that strikes the right balance between seasonal high-spirits and lacklustre re-labelling. Cropton have really pushed the boat outg and one hell-for-leather on option a) with Yorkshire Winter Ale: the overall effect here is pretty much molten Xmas in a glass (or chocolate orange dipped in Yuletide pot-pourri, if you’re feeling a bit more bah-humbug about the whole seasonal ales thing). Bit of an acquired taste perhaps, but I’d say it’s one I’d be willing to work on.

I bought two of this one to make up the numbers on a ‘buy five, get one free’ deal and I know just what to do with my second bottle; I reckon it’s crying out for a damned good mulling. I’ll research a couple of mulled-beer recipes (here’s one, via Boak and Bailey) then give it a go and – assuming it all turns out reasonably well – I’ll let you know how I get on.

Brewery: Wadworth
Location: Devizes, Wiltshire, England
Style: Rum-flavoured bitter
ABV: 5.0%
Version: Bottled
Source: Marks & Spencer

A relatively new addition to the M&S ‘regional’ bottled ale range, Wiltshire Rum Beer is brewed for them by Wadworth’s of Devizes. The back label tells us: “Navy rum rations, introduced in 1740, used to be mixed with beer to stop the crew getting too drunk! Here, Wadworth brewery have created their own ‘grog’ by blending Wadworth 6X with smooth Caribbean rum.” (Large parts of which sound a little historically-spurious to me. I wonder if Martyn Cornell can sense a disturbance in the Force..?)

Wiltshire Rum Beer pours a light amber colour with a slightly sweet nose. Flavours are predominantly sweet as well: a malty base with (as advertised) rum-like notes and a sort of general fruity mish-mash; nothing I could single out, more of a mixed fruit jam mixture. There’s a bit of a dry after-taste but not much in the way of hop character. And the mouth-feel was slightly disappointing, quite thin and a bit too fizzy. I suppose that’s par for the course for this sort of thing, but I did find myself getting a bit tired of the teeth-tingling hiss of it by the end of the bottle.

Wiltshire Rum Beer wasn’t horrible, but it really didn’t get much better than ‘quite nice’. I guess this is probably just one of those brews that would come across a lot better on draught.

This was one of three new beers that I went looking for (having read about them on Carl Purkins‘ blog) in the Manchester city centre branch of M&S last Saturday, the other two being Southwold Winter IPA (Adnams) and Yorkshire Winter Ale (Cropton). I’m probably going to give those other two a go on Friday, in advance of a return trip into town on Saturday, just in case I find myself with an urge to pick up a few more (seeing as none of them seem to be available on the M&S website). I think I’ll call the Wiltshire Rum Beer ‘done’ though.

Brewery: Adnams [spotted an old advertisement for a beer called ‘Tally-Ho Old Strong Ale’, brewed by Adnams. I’d never heard of it before, despite being reasonably familiar with the range of Adnams bottled ales, so I assumed it was a long-dead vintage from a bygone era, presumably the 1950s.

Then, a couple of weeks later I nipped along to the sorting office to pick up a missed parcel and opened it to discover a bottle of 2009 vintage Tally-Ho, courtesy of Sean Clark at Adnams. As far as I can work out, it seems that Adnams have been brewing small-cask runs of Tally-Ho every year since 1880, but this year is the first time that they’ve produced a bottled (limited edition and bottle-conditioned) version of this strong, barley-wine style, winter ale. Well, it’s the first bottled run for a good while, at least; ‘in cask and bottle’ is printed on the aforementioned ad poster, so it has been bottled at some point before now.

Anyhow, a very handsome, 330ml bottle it is, too, elegantly lettered and with a subtle, red-jacketed huntsman motif. The ale itself poured a lovely dark chestnut colour with ruby highlights and a thinnish head. No trouble with sediment, despite the bottle conditioning. Dried fruit aromas wafted from bottle and glass alike and the flavours were all about warming yourself in front of an open fire on a crisp winter’s day: rich, smoky chocolate, spiked with spicy, peppery notes, all carried on a marvellously creamy mouth-feel; it put me in mind of a rich, dark-chocolate mousse (you know, one of those Gü ones that cost twice as much as anything else but are definitely worth the extra…)

So, in conclusion: I’d say that Tally-Ho is an extremely palatable, eminently sippable and quite delicious strong winter ale that’s just my sort of thing. I’ll be keeping an eye out for this one and although a 24-pack at £35.75 might be a little rich for my current beer-budget, if I can find an outlet selling singles then I’ll definitely be in there for a half-dozen.

Thank you very much indeed to the folks at Adnams for sending this one along for me to try.

Brewery: Phoenix
Location: Heywood, England
ABV: 7.0%
Version: Draught
Source: Trackside, Bury

On a pre-Xmas trip to the Trackside in search of a lunchtime winter warmer I was lucky enough to strike gold in the form of Phoenix Humbug.

This 7.0% ABV strong ale is packed full of huge malt, caramel, toffee and burnt sugar flavours with plenty of seasonal spices – noticeably ginger and nutmeg – on the after-taste.

The alcohol level compliments rather than dominates the flavours, resulting in an incredibly satisfying slow-sipper that’s guaranteed to chase the winter blues away. Absolutely gorgeous.

CAMRA have announced this year’s supreme Champion Winter Beer of Britian. It’s Oakham Ales Attila, a 7.5%abv barley wine described by the brewery thus: “Fruit notes and elderflower on aroma. Taste of ripe red berries and citrus fruit with a long bitter fruity finish.”

Sounds bloody delicious, and I’ll bet there’s none left by the time I get to the NWAF tomorrow evening (my drinking buddy Howard is available, so that means a double-session for yours truly. Nice.)

The silver and bronze awards went to Elland Brewery‘s 1872 Porter and Sarah Hughes’s Dark Ruby mild, respectively, so that’s another two for the target list for tomorrow and / or Saturday. I’m looking forward to the next couple of evenings immensely…