For the first time in a couple of months, Jo and I didn’t end up spending at least one evening of the weekend just gone in one or more pubs. So whilst we indulged a couple of TV catch-up evenings I took the opportunity of to sample my way through some more of those Sainsbury’s 2011 Great British Beer Hunt Beers.

Wold Top Golden Summer 4.4%ABV
Pours a clear, translucent gold. Slightly effervescent with a bubbly white head and a slightly spicy hop aroma. Flavours are hop-led and quite sharp with a blend of green apples and tropical fruit. A good mouth-feel rounds off a beer that, whilst not one I’d rush back to, is pleasant and drinkable and does exactly what it says on the label.

Oxfordshire Ales Churchill IPA 4.5%
An amber ale with a malty, biscuity aroma. Slightly thin mouth-feel and a slightly sweet, tangy-orange, lightly nutty flavour. Not particularly hoppy, not much dryness on the after-taste. Not a bad best-bitter-grade ale by any means, but definitely not as advertised on the label. Sorry, Oxfordshire Ales, but I’m going to have to call Fake IPA on this one.

Ridgeway Ivanhoe 5.2%
A ‘red’ ale that, according to the label, strives for balance, with neither malt or hops dominating. I’d say it achieves that aim, but ends up rather anonymous and non-descript as a result. It’s slightly biscuity, slightly sharp, with a decent mouth-feel. Quite pleasant, quite… nice. Just not particularly remarkable.

Ridgeway Bad King John 6.0%
Looks like a porter, tastes like a porter… but apparently this one is a “Very English Black Ale”. There’s a big hit of smoky coffee-bitterness throughout with enough roast malt sweetness to off-set the lingering dryness. The mouth feel is perhaps a little thin for a porter, but that’s what qualifies it as a black ale instead? Anyhow, it’s flavourful and tasty and definitely the best of this particular batch.

To sum up: four pleasant, tasty beers, but nothing genuinely impressive. And it’s always disappointing to encounter a Fake-IPA. But so it goes… my final four Sainsbury’s Great British Beer Hunt beers to follow tomorrow, with a quick overview and verdict on all fourteen.

Jo and I headed up to Summerseat, north of Bury, on Saturday to do a spot of shed research at the Summerseat Garden Centre. As it turned out they didn’t have any sheds, but once we’d fought our way past three rooms full of assorted Christmas tat and wandered into the “luxury food items” (over-priced james, pickles, bicsuits, chocolates etc. etc. etc.) section, we discovered that they did have a real ale section, for which I was almost able to forgive them the four-piece plastic midget santa band playing a selection of seasonal jingles (not what you want to be hearing in early November).

So, whilst we didn’t come away from Summerseat with a new shed, we did end up with a ceramic strawberry planter and bottles of the following:

• Bank Top Port O’ Call – A ‘dark and mysterious’ ale with added ruby port.
• Bank Top Dark Mild – A full-bodied mild ‘with hints of liquorice and roast barley’.
• Wold Top 5 Wold Rings – An amber beer that’s described as ‘festive’ on the label… we’ll see about that at Xmas, then.
• Wold Top Cracker Black – A 6% ABV Strong, dark Xmas ale, so another one to save for Dec 25th.
• Copper Dragon Black Gold – A Dark beer brewed to a traditional C19th recipe.
• Holt’s Manchester Brown Ale – With ‘a hint of molasses’ and a ‘smooth, burnt palate’, hopefully more interesting than Newcastle Tadcaster Brown.
• J. W. Lees Moonraker – A 7.5% ABV ale from local brewery John Willies? Had to be done.
• Leyden Forever Bury – A 4.6% ABV ale brewed by local brewery Leyden to support my team, Bury FC. About bloody time I bought a bottle or two of this one then, eh?

…so it wasn’t an entirely wasted journey, although I was deeply traumatised by the sheer volume of Christmas tat. It may take me some time (and about eight bottles of beer) to recover.

Incidentally, Wold Top brewery are working to raise £10,000 to support the Candlelighters childrens’ cancer charity. You can support them by buying a bottle (or six) of their Candlelight Ale, available from the brewery or various fairs and farmers’ markets around Driffield in the run-up to Christmas.

Brewery: Wold Top
Location: Hunmanby, Yorkshire, England
ABV: 4.5%
Version: 500ml bottle

I should really have posted this review last week as it was Coeliac Awareness Week, but a few days late is better than not at all. Coeliac disease is an auto-immune disease, which means the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues. With coeliacs this reaction is set off by gluten in the diet, a protein found primarily in barley, wheat and rye. Thus people with this condition have to avoid any foodstuffs which contain these cereals, which of course also means beer. Fortunately Wold Top make Against The Grain, which with a certified gluten content of 5.1 ppm is well below the 20 ppm most people with coeliac disease need to look for, and it’s bottle conditioned as well. You can read more about coeliac disease at the Coeliac UK website.

Wold Top say on their website that Against The Grain has been declared “the most beer like” of all the gluten free beers in taste tests. It’s a mid gold colour with a light citrusy aroma, so very beer like so far. The flavour is of citrusy fruit, a hint of lemon and lime, and it gives a bit of a bitter tang on the tongue. The malt is provided by maize but any flavour it may impart is kept very much in the background. Overall then, a perfectably acceptable and palatable bitter. I’ve tasted worse non-GF beers.