Summer Wine Houblon

Summer Wine Houblon [baron rating 5/5] - 4.5% golden ale,piney citrus smell,pithy bitter grapefruit taste,zingy pithy citrus finish


Thank you to James from Summer Wine for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Ascot Alligator Ale

Ascot Alligator Ale [baron rating 4/5] - 4.6% pale gold ale,butter & tropical fruits smell,sweet fruity citrus taste,dry sweet citrus finish


Buy Ascot ales here

Crouch Vale Apollo

Crouch Vale Apollo [baron rating 4/5] - 4.3% copper ale,pine & fresh hops smell,tangy juicy bitter hoppy taste,very hoppy dry finish


Buy Crouch Vale ales here

Williams Bros Roisin

Williams Bros Roisin [baron rating 1/5] - 4.2% gold ale,raspberry smell,fizzy sour raspberry taste, lasting sour finish


Buy Williams Bros ales here

Summer Wine Invictus

Summer Wine Invictus [baron rating 3/5] - 4.7% copper ale,sweet malty smell,over-carbonated toffee with a sour note taste,dry hoppy finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review



Thank you to James from Summer Wine for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Summer Wine Teleporter

Summer Wine Teleporter [baron rating 4/5] - 5.2% black porter,fruit & sweet roasted smell,full smooth bitter roasted taste,burnt malt finish


Thank you to James from Summer Wine for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Waitrose October ale & beer offers (22nd September - 12th October 2010)

It's October's new beer & ale offers time in Waitrose, their PR staff informed me ahead of time what this month's ale offers are:

myBrewerytap's autumn selection of the '52 week beer club'

Chris & I have been a member of myBrewerytap's 52 week beer club since December and our 4th quarter's pack arrived a this week. It arrived in perfect condition as always.

This pack is a bit of a special one as it's the end of mybrewerytap's first year of the club so Richard has pulled out all the stops to make sure it's a cracking pack. Chris & I have been very fortunate to sample some of the beers in this pack over the past year and there are some real winners in here.

Here are the details:

As you can see from the above, there are some absolute crackers in this pack!

Join it now and make sure you say the baron made me do it!

Oakleaf Hole Hearted

Oakleaf Hole Hearted [baron rating 5/5] - 4.7% golden ale,orange citrus smell,orange citrus hops bitter taste,citrus bittersweet finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review



This was from the summer pack of the superb '52 week beer club' by myBrewerytap.

Join it now and make sure you say the baron made me do it!

Buy Oakleaf ales here

Felinfoel Stout

Felinfoel Stout [baron rating 2/5] - 4.1% black stout,licorice & roasted malt smell, thin roasted licorice taste,lasting burnt finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review



This was from the summer pack of the superb '52 week beer club' by myBrewerytap.

Join it now and make sure you say the baron made me do it!

Buy Felinfoel ales here

RCH Pitchfork

RCH Pitchfork [baron rating 5/5] - 4.3% golden ale,floral grapefruit smell,fresh zingy citrus taste,zingy citrus bitter finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review



This was from the summer pack of the superb '52 week beer club' by myBrewerytap.

Join it now and make sure you say the baron made me do it!

Buy RCH ales here

Acorn Conquest

Acorn Conquest [baron rating 5/5] - 5.7% golden ale,pithy citrus aroma,sweet malt & grapefruit bitter taste,lasting pithy bitter finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review



This was from the summer pack of the superb '52 week beer club' by myBrewerytap.

Join it now and make sure you say the baron made me do it!

Buy Acorn ales here

Cains Organic Wheat Beer

Cains Organic Wheat Beer [baron rating 2/5] - 4% copper ale,spicy hops nutmeg & wheat smell,floral spicy tart taste,bitter floral finish

Marble Dobber

Marble Dobber [baron rating 5/5] - 5.9% copper ale,orange citrus smell,balanced citrus & sweet malt then bitter taste,very dry hoppy finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review



Thank you to Richard from myBrewerytap for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Marble ales here

Thwaites Very Nutty Black

Thwaites Very Nutty Black [baron rating 4/5] - 3.9% black mild,roasted aroma,smooth choc & dark roasted taste,dry nutty bittersweet finish

Caledonian Golden Promise

Caledonian Golden Promise [baron rating 2/5] - 5% golden ale,sulphur & spiced apple smell,tangy sweet toffee taste,spicy bittersweet finish

Atlantic Gold

Atlantic Gold [baron rating 3/5] - 4.6% copper ale,root ginger aroma,thin balanced slighty sweet taste,slight tingly ginger finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review



This was from the summer pack of the superb '52 week beer club' by myBrewerytap.

Join it now and make sure you say the baron made me do it!

Buy Atlantic ales here

Williams Bros Ginger

Williams Bros Ginger [baron rating 4/5] - 3.8% pale ginger ale,fresh root ginger smell,crisp sweet fiery taste,long tingling ginger finish

As the baron isn't too keen on ginger beers a big thank you goes to @tania_nexust for being my ginger ale advisor and providing this review!


This was from the spring pack of the superb '52 week beer club' by myBrewerytap.

Join it now and make sure you say the baron made me do it!

Buy Williams Bros ales here

Marble Ginger 6%

Marble Ginger 6% [baron rating 4/5] - 6% burnished copper ale,rich candy-ish ginger aroma,malt & ginger spicy bitter taste & bitter finish

As the baron isn't too keen on ginger beers a big thank you goes to @tania_nexust for being my ginger ale advisor and providing this review!


Buy Marble ales here

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Marble Dobber very soon!

As hinted at in my last post, there was something else in with the amazing Sierra Nevada selection, a bottle of the brand new bottled ale from Marble - Dobber:


Marble Brewery
Ignore all the talk on the web about Marble's Dobber meaning something rude, it's the name of a big marble as I remember that word from my childhood.  If I remember correctly it was worth two peewees?!?

Look out for 'baron ratings' for these myBrewerytap beers soon, and a big thank you to Richard from myBrewerytap for sending these through to me! 

Buy Marble ales here

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Sierra Nevada ales very soon!

Richard at myBrewerytap looks after the baron, never failing to amazing when yet another courier delivers a special box of ales. Today's box was quite something, a range of Sierra Nevada ales (plus something else to be blogged about later...)


Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

  • Porter - 5.6% rich bittersweet & roasted toffee
  • Stout - 5.8% bold roasted coffee & dark chocolat
  • Torpedo - 7.2% 'extra' IPA, citrus, pine & herbal
Look out for 'baron ratings' for these myBrewerytap beers soon, and a big thank you to Richard from myBrewerytap for sending these through to me! 

Buy Sierra Nevada ales here

Morrisons September ale & beer offers (6th September - 3rd October 2010

It's September's new beer & ale offers time in Morrisons so I popped into the local Ormskirk branch on Wednesday to check them out.

Here are the details:
Yeap, that's it. Sneck Lifter is within the 'baron bargain' price range of £1.30 but it's not one I'm going to be stocking up on.

Ossett Excelsior

Ossett Excelsior [baron rating 5/5] - 5.2% pale golden ale, floral grapefruit hops smell, balanced bittersweet hoppy taste, dry hoppy finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review



Thank you to Richard from myBrewerytap for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

This beer was also from the summer pack of the superb '52 week beer club' by myBrewerytap.

Join it now and make sure you say the baron made me do it!

Buy Ossett ales here

Summer Wine Project 6 Brew 2

Summer Wine Project 6 Brew 2 [baron rating 5/5] - 6.8% yellow ale,citrus & candied sweets smell,big citrus hops taste,lasting dry hop finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review



Thank you to James from Summer Wine for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Williams Bros Rooster

Williams Bros Rooster [baron rating 3/5] - 4.3% red ale,floral citrus smell,hoppy berry fruits & sweet malt taste,dry hoppy fruity finish


Buy Williams Bros. ales here

A bottle of Orme for Baron Orm!

My stout advisor Chris Routledge was on holiday recently in Wales and picked me up a rather fitting present - a bottle of Great Orme Brewery's Orme:

Orme - 4.2% premium welsh ale

A big thank you to Chris, I'm rather looking forward to 'baron rating' this bottle of ale!

Buy Great Orme ales here

Cheddar Goat's Leap

Cheddar Goat's Leap [baron rating 4/5] - 5.7% copper ale,floral sherbet toffee smell,balanced toffee & juicy hops taste,sweet citrus finish

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Young's London Gold & Special London Ale very soon!

A few weeks ago, Young's was asking on twitter if anyone had any reviews of their beers that they wanted to share. I pointed them at my Young's Bitter [baron rating 4/5] blog post and they got back in touch asking if I would like to try some others.

I 'baron rated' Young's Special London Ale [baron rating 5/5] a while ago before I did the MP3 audio reviews with Chris Routledge.  Young's said they would send some London Gold & Special London Ale through so that I could give them the full 'baron rating works' (i.e. record some audio as well as the usual text & photo).

On Friday last week some sample bottles of the above mentioned beers arrived:


Wells & Young's Brewing Company

  • London Gold - 4.8% light golden beer
  • Special London Ale - 6.4% smooth rich ale with spicy hops

Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Young's beers soon, and a big thank you to Joanna from YoungsBeers for sending these through to me!

Black Sheep Yorkshire Square Ale for 99p a bottle in B&M Bargains

B&M Bargains in Ormskirk has 500ml bottles of Black Sheep Yorkshire Square Ale [baron rating 3/5] for 99p (best before end of December 2010)

Coniston Bluebird Bitter

Coniston Bluebird Bitter [baron rating 3/5] - 4.2% copper ale,bitter apple aroma,fresh but thin bitter taste & gentle bitterness to finish

Hopshackle ales now available from Beers of Europe

Nigel from Hopshackle emailed me earlier this week to say that the excellent Beers of Europe website are now stocking Nigel's amazing Hopshackle ales:
I was fortunate to 'baron rate' quite a number of Hopshackle ales earlier this year and I can honestly say that every one was outstanding! Check out my Hopshackle 'baron ratings' here.

Buy Hopshackle ales here

Looking forward to 'baron rating' more AlesByMail ales soon!

I received an amazing heavy box of ale today from Paul at AlesByMail, twenty four different bottles to 'baron rate'! Check out the packaging (and the two Eat Natural bars!):

Look at them all, peeping out at me!
The box contained the following:

  • Bavik-De Brabandere Petrus Blond - 6.6% blond beer
  • Het Anker Gouden Carolus Ambrio - 6% belgian beer
  • Het Anker Maneblusser - 8% belgian beer
Look out for 'baron ratings' for these AlesByMail beers soon, and a big thank you to Paul from AlesByMail for sending these through to me!

Ascot Posh Pooch

Ascot Posh Pooch [baron rating 3/5] - 4.2% golden ale, citrus orange hops aroma, completely flat citrus taste & spicy hop finish


Buy Ascot ales here

Williams Bros IPA

Williams Bros IPA [baron rating 5/5] - 5% golden ale,floral lemon citrus aroma,sweet balanced pithy citrus taste & bitter hop resin finish


Buy Williams Bros. ales here

Fuller's Discovery

Fuller's Discovery [baron rating: 3/5] - 4.5% gold ale,lemon citrus smell,thin balanced biscuit malt & citrus hops taste,clean fruity finish


Buy Fuller's ales here