Looking forward to baron rating Mayfields ales

I'd not seen or heard of Mayfields Brewery before I started visiting Holborn Ales in Ormskirk and spotted them on the shelves. I find that a pale ale is a good test of a brewery and so picked up a bottle of the Priory Pale Ale back in March.

Unfortunately I found it thin and lacking as a bottle ale and mentioned this to the brewer via Twitter. This started a conversation about the fact that their bottles were sent out to an external bottler and due to the filtration & bottling process a lot of the flavour and character of the beer had also been filtered out.

Since then, Adam (brewer & owner of Mayfields Brewery) has been busy - he's scraped the contract bottling and has gone down the bottle conditioned route. A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to pop into Holborn Ales to find a bottle of each of the new range ready to receive a baron rating. I'm really looking forward to re-rating the Priory Pale Ale (as well as the rest of the range to be honest) to see what the BCing has done for the character of the ale:

The Mayfields range, now bottled conditioned

Mayfields Brewery

• Auntie Myrtle's - 4.5% award winning smooth & fruity copper premium ale - Cyclops says see: dark copper, smell: malty,winey,warming, taste: roasted,smooth,refreshing
• BV Stout - 4.5% delicious smooth black stout
• Ducking Stool - 4.4% refreshing straw coloured ale with a citrus hop character - Cyclops says see: golden amber, smell: soft fruits,light hop, taste: citrus,sharp,malty
• Priory Pale Ale - 4% golden ale with a crisp malt body and floral hop notes

Look out for a 'baron rating' for this Mayfields Brewery beer soon, and a big thank you to Adam (@MayfieldsBrewer) for sending it through to me!

Buy Mayfields ales from Holborn Ales

Camden Pale Ale

Not bottle conditioned

Camden Pale Ale [baron rating 4/5] - 4% copper ale,tropical citrus piney smell,piney citrus bitter taste (but a bit thin),dry citrus finish Baron Orm

Thank you to Paul Kruzycki from Ales By Mail for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Camden ales from Ales By Mail

George Wright Eldorado

Not bottle conditioned

George Wright Eldorado [baron rating 3/5] - 5.1% gold ale,floral peachy smell,floral sweetish fruity quite bitter taste,long zingy finish Baron Orm

Note: This just started to get 'a bit much' after a while, the sweetness of the malt was added to by the fruitiness of the hops, shows off what the hop gives to the beer though. I do enjoy trying these single hop beers from George Wright even if I don't think they are all wonderful.

Thank you to Shaun (@GWrightsbrewing) from George Wright Brewery for handing this over for a baron rating!

Buy George Wright ales direct and from Source Deli

Traquair Jacobite Ale

Not bottle conditioned

Traquair Jacobite Ale [baron rating 5/5] - 8% ruby ale,prumes nutmeg smell,balanced stewed plums clove nutmeg taste,fading gentle finish Baron Orm

Note: No idea why I said it was 5% at the start of the audio review, I was obviously too in awe of the beer to be concentrating! 

Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Chris for bringing this round for a baron rating!

Buy Traquair ales from Tebay Services

Looking forward to baron rating Salopian Automaton ale

We baron rating Salopian's new black IPA 'Vertigo' [baron rating 5/5] a couple of weeks ago and so it was great to see a new strong bottle-conditioned IPA arrive from Salopian decked out in similar clothes to the Vertigo bottle, hope it's as good!

Another great looking bottle

Salopian Brewery

• Automaton - 7% IPA hopped with Citra & Saaz

Look out for a 'baron rating' for this Salopian Brewery beer soon, and a big thank you to Jake (@SalopianBrewery) for sending it through to me!

Buy Salopian ales from Holborn Ales

Bridestones American Pale Ale

Not bottle conditioned

Bridestones American Pale Ale [baron rating 4/5] - 5% amber ale,tangerine smell,balanced mild spicy orange squash taste,fruity spicy finish Baron Orm

Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Dan (@BridestonesBeer) from Bridestones Brewing for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Bridestones ales direct

Old Dominion Beach House Golden Pilsner

Not bottle conditioned

Old Dominion Beach House Golden Pilsner [baron rating 4/5] - 5.2% gold beer,grassy lime smell,mild syrupy citrus bitter taste,herbal finish Baron Orm

Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Gemma (@SlurpBeer) from Slurp for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Old Dominion ales from Slurp

Looking forward to baron rating Jack Brand Innovation

Adnams Innovation is one of my favourite beers, it's one that I buy from Adnams quite often and really enjoy it for it's strong sweetish but tropical hoppy punch. Adnams have recently launched their 'Jack Brand' range of keg and bottled beers, giving Adnams an outlet for some smaller runs and more dynamic beers than the more solid regular Adnams range.

Innovation is the first beer they are releasing under the Jack Brand name, this is their normal Innovation but this one is only filtered rather than filtered and pasteurised. Fergus (head brewer of Adnams) has sent a few along for me to try, so I'm going to ensure that we do an audio head-to-head between this and the regular Adnams Innovation.

Lovely embossed label,with a historical & modern twist

Jack Brand Beers

• Innovation - 6.7% splendidly hoppy IPA. Boadicea, Columbus and Stryian Goldings combine to give a wonderful grapefruit and tropical fruit aroma and bitterness that is balanced by the sweetness of the barley

Look out for a baron rating for this Jack Brand Beers ale soon, and a big thank you to Fergus (@Solebear) for sending it through to me!

Buy Adnams & Jack Brand ales direct

Tap East Coffee In The Morning

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Tap East Coffee In The Morning [baron rating 5/5] - 5.2% dark brown ale,black coffee smell,sweetish choc coffee taste,bitter coffee finish Baron Orm

Note: This also has a lovely orange oil element in the finish which adds a real interesting aspect to this beer meaning that it's not all just coffee, coffee, coffee.

Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Paul Kruzycki from Ales By Mail for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Tap East ales from Ales By Mail

George Wright Vital

Not bottle conditioned

George Wright Vital [baron rating 5/5] - 5.1% copper ale,lemon & lime smell,spicy citrus aggressive bitter taste,big bitter herbal finish Baron Orm

Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Shaun (@GWrightsbrewing) from George Wright Brewery for handing this over for a baron rating!

Buy George Wright ales direct and from Source Deli

Stringers Delta V

Not bottle conditioned

Stringers Delta V [baron rating 5/5] - 6.5% copper ale,tropical syrupy caramel smell,zingy bold sweet citrus taste,spicy bittersweet finish Baron Orm

Thank you to George (@BoothsCountry) from Booths for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Stringers ales from Booths

Hawkshead (Booths) Festival Ale

Not bottle conditioned

Hawkshead (Booths) Festival Ale [baron rating 5/5] - 4% gold ale,sweet floral smell,zesty bittersweet citrus taste,fruity spicy zingy finish Baron Orm

Thank you to George (@BoothsCountry) from Booths for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Booths ales direct

Looking forward to taking part in #BoothsCheers

Booths are an excellent supermarket with stores mainly in Cumbria and their beer selection is second to none. Whenever I see one I have to call in to see what they've got on the shelves, normally spending far to long making my selections whilst the Baroness gets utterly bored.

I was really pleased then when Booths got in touch with me a couple of weeks ago to ask if I would like to be part of their online tasting session called #BoothsCheers. It's tomorrow night starting at 7pm and we are going to be tasting the following drinks:

#BoothsCheers ales

• Booths (Hawkshead) Festival Ale - 4% refreshing, pale, hoppy, full-flavoured beer brewed with a blend of modern American and traditional English hops (brewed by Hawkshead to celebrate Booths 2013 Beer and Cider Festival)
• Stringers Delta V - 6.5% bright gold, fragrant, strong beer. US and European hops give up an enticing aroma, a satisfying, drinkable body and a lasting bitterness

#BoothsCheers ciders

• Dunkertons Browns -7.5% vivacious and complex Medium Dry cider
• Orchard Pig Reveller -4.5% medium sparkling cider

Note: I'm not a fan of cider but a friend of mine (Mark) is, so I'll be dropping these round for him to drink and tweet about tomorrow night!

Look out for baron ratings for these Booths beers soon, and a big thank you to George (@BoothsCountry) for sending them through to me!

Buy these drinks from Booths

Anarchy Sublime Chaos

Not bottle conditioned

Anarchy Sublime Chaos [baron rating 5/5] - 7% black ale,liquorice coffee smell,milky astringent coffee taste,choc sauce dark fruit finish Baron Orm

Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Andrew (@TheAleRoom) from The Ale Room for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Anarchy ales from The Ale Room

Salopian Vertigo

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Salopian Vertigo [baron rating 5/5] - 7.2% black ale,green hop resin fruit salad & berry smell,roasted berries choc taste,choc piney finish Baron Orm

Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Jake (@SalopianBrewery) from Salopian Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Salopian ales from Holborn Ales

Looking forward to baron rating Ship In A Bottle ales

The Ship In A Bottle is a specialist beer shop in Merseyside selling a range of over 400 products (mostly beer). They've stores in Heswall, West Kirby as well as Whitechapel, Liverpool.

They have a range of own-label beers available all of which are brewed by Liverpool Organic Brewery. I've a lot of respect for Karl at Liverpool Organic so I'm really looking forward to trying these bottles that the Ship In A Bottle sent through for review:

Snazzy looking bottles

Ship In A Bottle

• American Pale Ale - 3.9% light citrus flavoured pale ale,bursting with American cascade hops
• Best Bitter - 4.1% traditional brown bitter,malty & spicy flavoured with British Challenger & Golden(sic?) hops
• Honey Brown Ale - 4.5% mid-bronze ale brewed with wild flower honey

Look out for baron ratings for these Ship In A Bottle beers soon, and a big thank you to @ShipinabottleWK for sending them through to me!