In between Xmas and New Year Jo and I were down in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, visiting her folks. A few weeks earlier Mum-in-law had told be that a new specialist beer shop had opened up in town, next-door to the White Lion on West Castle Street, and run by the folks at the pub. We went along for a look, but alas the place was closed through to Jan 4th, so looking was all we could do; peering through the window I spotted a few interesting-looking Belgians, one or two US imports and plenty of local brews, definitely enough to make plans to re-visit next time we’re down in that part of the world.

Luckily though, we’d already called in Riverside Wines on Underhill Street the evening before. They stock an excellent selection of local beers as well: when Jo and I nipped we discovered good dozen or so shelves of beers (and ciders, if that’s your thing) from all over the West Midlands and the South West. It would have been rude not to buy something while we were there, so we came away with our bottle bags full of the following:

First up, no fewer than four from the Beowulf Brewery. This award-winning brewery has been been brewing in Staffordshire since 1997. I’d not encountered any of their beers before, so I grabbed the most interesting / tastiest-looking from among a selection of eight on offer:

• Finn’s Hall Porter – 4.7% ABV, “inviting, dark, and smoky, hoppy and not too sweet”
• Dark Raven – 4.5% ABV, “traditional, flavourful mild”
• Dragon Smoke Stout – 4.7% ABV, “smouldering chocolate flavour followed by a mouth embracing bitterness”
• India Pale Ale – 6.4% ABV (no mention on the website, but I’m guessing lots of hops…)

I’m particularly looking forward to trying those (if Jo doesn’t claim the Finn’s Hall and Dragon Smoke before I get to them) and I’ll be reporting back in due course.

Next up, a bit of an assortment:

• Bewdley Brewery William Mucklow’s Dark Mild – 6.0% ABV, “A dark, sweetish, strong ale with a smooth fruity flavour and slight liquorice after taste.”
• Holden’s Dragon’s Blood – 5.6% ABV, “an assertive hop character and fruitiness dominating throughout”.
• Three Tuns Old Scrooge – 6.5% ABV, “A rich, dark and fiery, yet smooth, barley wine”, one for next Xmas.
• Lymestone Stone the Crows – 5.4% ABV, “Chewy juicy fruit flavours give way to a deep lingering bitterness”.
• Wood’s Christmas Cracker – 6.0% ABV, “A Dark ruby brew with a port wine flavour”, another one to save for Yuletide ’11.

• Hollows Ginger Beer – Think this might be an alcoholic version of Fentiman’s ginger pop. Or something like that…
• Wood’s Shropshire County of a Thousand Flowers – 4.7% ABV, one of a limited edition of 1,000 bottles
• Wood’s Pot O’Gold – 4.4% ABV, “A smooth drinking bitter”
• Corvedale St George’s Stout – 4.5% ABV (website just says “New Beer!”)

The Hollows Ginger and the Corvedale stout are for Jo and the middle two were actually an Xmas present from my ever-thoughtful in-laws, bless ‘em.

Plenty of potential in that little lot, I’m sure you’ll agree. Anyone tried any of them already? Anything to particularly recommend?

Sainsbury’s have kicked off this year’s Real Ale promo and have the full range in stock at our local store, which made last night’s mid-week top-up shopping trip about twice as expensive, twice as heavy and ten times as interesting as it usually is.

I grabbed pretty much one of everything they had, which means I’m now the proud owner of a bottle of each of the following all-new (to me) beers:

• Allgates Brewery Porteresque – “classic style porter”, 4.4%
• Bath Ales Golden Hare – “full-flavoured light ale”, 4.4% abv
• Bays Brewery Bays Breaker – “award-winning ale with a chestnut colour and fruity taste”, 4.7% abv
• Greene King Bretwalda – “spicy and fruity ale”, 4.1%
• Hambleton Ales Taylor’s Tipple – “chestnut coloured ale with an uplifting citrus and berry aroma”, 4.5%
• Williams Bros 80/- Ale – “traditional Scottish ale brewed with an emphasis on the malt characteristics”, 4.2%
• Williams Bros Birds n’ Bees – “golden summer ale … brewed with a late infusion of elderflowers and lemon zest”, 5%
• Williams Bros Ceilidh – “crisp, citrusy lager”, 4.7%
• Williams Bros Williams IPA – “Aggressively hopped … an unusual blend of Bramling X and Amarillo”, 5%
• Wolf Brewery Woild Moild – “rich, fruity mild”, 4.8%
• Wolf Brewery Wolf Whistle – “lightly hopped reddish ale” 4.7%
• Wood’s Brewery Shropshire Lass – “a delectable blonde”, 4.1%

I picked up top-up bottles of BrewDog’s Chaos Theory, Dogma and Hardcore IPA as well, all of which I’m already quite familiar with and fairly stocked-up on already… but it would have been rude not to, eh? Prices ranged from about £1.59 to £1.89 per bottle, but with the ’4 for 3, cheapest free’ offer that dragged the averages down into bargain territory, particularly for those BrewDog brews.

Compared to last year’s selection there seems to be a smaller group of participating breweries this time around – whether this is down to their having stormed the taste-tests or for logistical reasons I don’t know – but still a reasonably broad range of beer styles. Nice to see a mild and a porter included, as well as a craft lager and, of course, BrewDog’s two hop-monsters and their rather delicious Dogma.

I think I’m most looking forward (BrewDogs aside, as I’ve already tried all of those) to the Allgates Porteresque, Williams 80/-and Wolf Woild Moild. I have a sneaky suspicion that the Greene King Bretwalda will be the dud of the bunch, but that might be my inherent ‘Greene King = kinda average’ bias creeping in. We shall see.

Update 28.08.09 Reluctant Scooper has posted a tasting round-up of the four Williams Bros beers.

Back in January I declared my intention to steer clear of average, bog-standard bitters and pale ales as far as I possibly could. When it comes to the buying of bottled beers I’ve done pretty well. Purchases of a pretty superb stout selection from BeerVentures.co.uk, a case of rare and rather exquisite Belgians from BeerMerchants.com and a couple of excellent BrewDog orders have helped to keep the quality averages consistently high and I’ve been exercising my willpower when it comes to supermarket purchases: only the most interesting-looking new stuff for me.

Inevitably though, there have been a few that in spite of their apparent promise haven’t turned out to be quite as remarkable as I’d hoped. And seeing as there are only so many times that your humble beer blogger can stretch “bitter ale, malty, some hoppiness” (or vica-versa as applicable) to a full Tasting Notes write-up, here’s another quick catch-up piece to clear the backlog from the notebook:

Shepherd Neame Late Red (bottled, 4.5% abv)
A very deep-ruby red bitter brewed with late-season hops. Not sure if the seasonality of the hops adds anything in particular to the flavour profile, but the brew was distinctly hoppy and bitter, although at the same time a bit on the flat side and without much else to distinguish it. Not bad, but not great either.

Jennings Golden Host (bottled, 4.3% abv)
A golden amber pale ale with a very hoppy nose that somehow doesn’t carry through into the flavour, which was quite mild and if anything, had a honey-sweetness rather than a hop-bitterness. With a touch of citrus as well, this would make for a pleasant summer quaffer, but isn’t one I’ll be looking out for in future myself.

Thwaites Liberation (bottled, 4.8% abv)
A smooth-drinking, but with barely a distinguishing characteristic to report back on – a touch of sweetness but hardly any bitterness to balance it out. I would have expected more from Thwaites, who usually know how to put out a decent brew and at 4.8% it should really have had a bit more bite, surely?

Black Sheep Yorkshire Square (bottled, 5.0% ABV)
A dark amber bitter with a hoppy, fresh-tasting flavour, good bitterness and hints of citrus to make things interesting. Nice. But not remarkably nice… (Ed wasn’t blown away either).

Orval Trappist Ale (bottled, 6.2% ABV)
I picked up a bottle of Orval in Tesco during my recent Belgian-familiarisation drive. It poured with a big head and a big aroma and turned out to be slightly cloudy, slightly effervescent and slightly sour. Not a hint of sweetness anywhere and a rather odd after-taste, too. I know this one’s meant be a taste that’s worth acquiring, but I don’t know… I’m unlikely to be going back any time soon, I think.

Wood’s Shropshire Lad (bottled, 5.0% ABV)
I’m pretty sure this one must have gone off in the bottle. Or at least, I hope that explains the cloyingly sweet, marsh-mallow, unpleasantly yoghurty flavour that saw the bulk of it dumped down the sink. I’ll give it another go sometime – if only on the grounds that my brother-in-law swears it’s actually a decent drop – but honestly, this particular bottle was just undrinkable.

Badger Golden Champion (bottled, 5.0% ABV)
I was highly impressed by Badger’s Golden Glory a while back, but this one didn’t quite hit the same high-notes. It was pleasant and drinkable enough: a rich, golden ale with a light, hoppy flavour and some definite citrus notes. But again, I’d expect more from a 5% ABV beer. And from a marketing perspective, I’m just not sure why Badger would want to have two such similarly-named ales in its range when they have such distinct characteristics? Anyhow, my advice: stick to Golden Glory for a much more interesting flavour experience.

Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA (bottled, 5.3% ABV)
Along with a few others in this round-up, I rather think this is a beer that would perform much better on draught than it did in the bottle. A golden-amber ale that actually had a much more malty profile than it’s claim to IPA-status would suggest, with the hops not really kicking in until the after-taste rather than being up-front and central as you’d expect. With hints of honey-biscuit and a pink-grapefruit citrus tang it’s not unpleasant by any means, but it’s not remarkable either.

Maxim Double Maxim Premium Brown Ale (bottled, 4.7% ABV)
This resurrected recipe has been lovingly restored by the Double Maxim beer company; it was first brewed in Sunderland in 1901 to celebrate the return of the Maxim Gun detachment from the Boer War. The beer is a deep chestnut colour with a slightly vegetative aroma in-bottle. Hoppy and sharp with an underlying marzipan sweetness that develops into a definite almond flavour as the beer goes on. Pleasant enough, not so impressive that I leapt to try the draught version when I saw it a few weeks later; although who knows, maybe that was an opportunity missed..?

Cairngorm Trade Winds (bottled, 4.3% abv)
This one was left over from the selection I picked up in last year’s Sainsbury’s summer Real Ale promotion. A pale golden ale with a rich, fruity flavour and a lingering bitterness that became more noticeable as the pint went on, backed up by a smooth, satisfying mouth-feel. Would probably try this one again, especially if I found it on draught (Ed was a bit more impressed than I was).

Marston Oyster Stout (bottled, 4.5% abv)
For a stout, this one was remarkably thin, fizzy and generally a bit limp: a hint of coffee and chocolate, but barely anything to distinguish it from bottled Guinness. I’ve had porters with a lot more body and bitters with a lot more flavour and a great many stouts that were superior on both fronts. Not one I’ll be rushing back to in a hurry.

Wychwood Dirty Tackle (draught, 4.0% abv)
Tried a pint of this one at the Bull’s Head in Manchester at the end of a session. A pleasant, rich-chestnut coloured bitter with a well-balanced blend of malt and hops and dry, bitter finish. Pleasantly drinkable, but not all that remarkable. No sign of it on the Wychwood website, either; I’m guessing it was a seasonal brew for the Five Nations or something like that.

That’ll do for this time around. Got a few more in the notebook, so I’ll post another round-up later on in the year.

Just when I thought I’d managed to make a few in-roads into the beer cupboard, I nipped into my local Sainsbury’s for the weekly shop to find that, whilst they’ve called time on their summer real ale promotion (incidentally, they were selling off remaining overstocks for £1 a bottle – although they still didn’t have any Copper Dragon 1816…), they’ve also gone and re-vamped their regular range, adding at least ten new beers to the shelves.

I grabbed nine of them (my missus, Jo, was heard to mutter “kid in a sweet shop”, but I mollified her by chucking a few bottles of Guinness original into the trolley as well), leaving a couple of them behind on the grounds that I suspected I’d already tried them.

The new (to me) discoveries were (in no particular order):

• Meantime London Stout
• Wood’s Shropshire Lad Spring Bitter
• Abbot Reserve
• Morland Old Crafty Hen
• Thwaite’s Liberation
• Worthington’s White Shield
• Purity Pure Ubu
• Butcombe Gold
• Shepherd Neame Late Red

And the beer cupboard now (once again) looks a something like this:

The worrying thing is, a new branch of Morrison’s opened up in the area last week, which means there’s going to be a whole new selection for me to browse. I think I’m going to need a bigger cupboard. Or I should just start drinking (and typing) faster…