Wells Bombardier

Wells Bombardier [baron rating 4/5] - 5.2% dark amber ale,dried fruit caramel smell,juicy fruit bittersweet taste,long slight fruity finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it.

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes


Thank you to @YoungsBeers for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Waitrose March ale & beer offers (9 March - 5 April 2011)

It's March's new beer & ale offers time in Waitrose, their PR staff informed me of what this month's ale offers are. They are available on the following page, make sure you scroll down to the "beers" section:

Waitrose Wines, Beers and Spirits Promotions March 2011

Shepherd Neame Bishops Finger

Shepherd Neame Bishops Finger [baron rating 2/5] - 5.4% dark amber ale,plummy smell,heavy sweet fruit taste,fruity gentle bittersweet finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes


Thank you to Rachel from Shepherd Neame for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Shepherd Neame ales here

Wold Top Centenary Way

Wold Top Centenary Way [baron rating 3/5] - 3.5% dark amber ale,cadburys fruit&nut smell,juicy nutty choc taste,peppery gentle bitter finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes


Thank you to Wold Top for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Wold Top ales here

Baron on Tour: Liverpool Beer Festival 2011

I was lucky enough to get a ticket for the trade session of the Liverpool Beer Festival 2011 thanks to Source Deli & Liverpool Organic Brewery. We (Paul from Source Deli, Chris & I) headed off to Liverpool Catholic Cathedral on Wednesday night.


Inside we were presented with a wall of casks filling the entire wall of one side of the crypt. Only local beers were available during the trade session and any beer from the main sponsors, Liverpool Organic were free! Their beers were lovely (I've only tried one of theirs before) but we made sure we actually paid for some beer as well (I know that it's not the baron way though ;) ).























Here are a list of the beers that we (Chris & I) tried roughly in order:

My favourites from the ones we tried were Liverpool Organic's Shipwreck IPA & Blueball's Blonde Bombshell - both of them were outstanding and I've love to try them again.














After we left the trade session things started to get a bit blurry, we went to the Everyman for a pint (a very nice pint of Trappers Hat from Brimstage Brewery) and a bite to eat.  Paul from Source decided that Chris & I should drink something that wasn't from the UK or the USA and so forced these upon us:

I wasn't allowed the Brooklyn Lager they had on tap :(

We then ended up in The Dispensary where they had Stringers Pale Ale on, as we were with Jon & Becky from Stringers it would have been rude to not drink their beer! It was a lovely beer, crisp & refreshing with an assertive hoppy bite, I'm blaming it for the bad head I had the next day! ;)

Jon & Becky from Stringers

BrewDog Hardcore IPA

BrewDog Hardcore IPA [baron rating 5/5] - 9.2% dark amber ale,tropical fruits smell,candied sweets brutally bitter taste,sweet fruity finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes


Thank you to BrewDog for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy BrewDog ales here or here

Three Castles Holly Berry

Three Castles Holly Berry [baron rating 2/5] - 4.4% dark amber ale,cherry & berry smell,fruity tangy bitter taste,dull bittersweet finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it.

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes


This was part of the winter 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 Three Castles ales here

Dark Star American Pale Ale

Dark Star American Pale Ale [baron rating 5/5] - 4.7% gold ale,citrus slight sulphur smell,juicy sweet piny bitter taste,bitter piny finish
Note: This was from a 4 pint carry-out of their cask ale when I visited them over the Christmas break, would love to see this become part of their bottled line-up!


Thank you to James from Dark Star for handing this over to me!

Buy Dark Star ales here

Butcombe Bitter

Butcombe Bitter [baron rating 4/5] - 4.5% dark amber ale,nutty slightly fruity smell,nutty strong classic bitter taste,dry lingering finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it.

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes


This was part of the winter 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 Butcombe ales here

Bristol Beer Factory Ultimate Stout

Bristol Beer Factory Ultimate Stout [baron rating 5/5] - 7.7% black ale,sweet burnt coffee smell,sweet roasted taste,fruity roasted finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it.

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes


Thank you to @BrisBeerFactory from Bristol Beer Factory for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Bristol Beer Factory ales here

Oakham JHB

Oakham JHB [baron rating 5/5] - 4.2% pale gold ale,grapefruit clementine smell,crisp zesty citrus bittersweet taste,pithy tart citrus finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes


This was part of the winter 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 Oakham ales here

Thwaites Old Dan

Thwaites Old Dan [baron rating 5/5] - 7.8% dark amber ale,boozy syrupy smell,rich liquidised fruitcake taste,lingering sweet fruity finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it.

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes


I love the label on this 'work in progress' beer, so much detail about the brewing of the beer as well as looking very cool:


Thank you to @Daniel_Thwaites from Thwaites for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

McEwan's Champion

McEwan's Champion [baron rating 2/5] - 7.3% dark amber ale,sweet fruity smell,full bodied very sweet plummy taste,lasting very sweet finish

Looking forward to 'baron rating' AlesByMail US ales very soon!

Paul from AlesByMail came up to visit the Baron a few weeks ago to attend my Marble Beers night at Source Deli.  Along with these treats he also brought the following three ales from various US breweries for me to try:

  • Indigo Imp Winter Solstice - 5.8% deep amber full bodied ale with spices
  • Oskar Blues Ten Fidy - 9.5% imperial stout
  • Rogue Mocha Porter - 5.1% ruddy-brown bittersweet porter with natural chocolate flavour
Look out for 'baron ratings' for these beers soon, and a big thank you to Paul from AlesByMail for handing these over to me!

Buy these ales here

Kelham Island Riders On The Storm

Kelham Island Riders On The Storm [baron rating 3/5] - 4.5% copper ale,floral caramel smell,caramel tangy apple-like taste,long apple finish


Thank you to Paul from AlesByMail for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Kelham Island ales here

Bristol Beer Factory No 7

Bristol Beer Factory No 7 [baron rating 5/5] - 4.5% dark amber ale,toffee smell,nutty toffee bitter taste,lasting classic bitter finish

Thank you to @BrisBeerFactory from Bristol Beer Factory for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Bristol Beer Factory ales here

Greene King Very Special IPA

Greene King Very Special IPA [baron rating 4/5] - 7.5% amber ale,sweet spicy smell,juicy bittersweet spicy taste,lasting bittersweet finish

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Wadworth 125 Double Stout & Swordfish very soon!

Wadworth recently announced that they had bottled a double stout in celebration of their 125 years of brewing at the Northgate site. I'm more into strong stouts since gaining a stout education from @Christopher_R so I was very interested in this celebration stout.

After a few tweets back and forth a couple of Wadworth ales arrived today:


Wadworth Brewery
  • 125 Double Stout - 6% rich dark beer with big complex coffee flavours
  • Swordfish - 5% copper ale with added Pussers Rum for a rich smooth full-bodied ale
Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Wadworth beers soon, and a big thank you to @Wadworth for sending these through to me!

Buy Wadworth ales here

Isle of Purbeck Studland Bay Wrecked

Isle of Purbeck Studland Bay Wrecked [baron rating 4/5] - 4.5% dark amber ale,toffee smell,juicy raisins & toffee taste,gentle bitter finish

Thank you to @PurbeckBrewery for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Bristol Beer Factory Bristletoe

Bristol Beer Factory Bristletoe [baron rating 4/5] - 4.3% ruby ale,citrus choc smell,coffee spicy citrus fruity taste sweetish coffee finish


Thank you to @BrisBeerFactory from Bristol Beer Factory for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Bristol Beer Factory ales here

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Fyne Hurricane Jack & Jarl very soon!

Received a fantastic parcel today completely out of the blue - a mixed case from Fyne Ales including their two brand new bottled beers: Hurricane Jack & Jarl:


Fyne Ales brew consistently excellent beers and have received great baron ratings so far. A lot of people have mentioned how good cask Jarl is, so I'm really looking forward to trying the bottled version.

Fyne Ales
  • Hurricane Jack - 4.4% blonde & fruitily hopped ale
  • Jarl - 3.8% hoppy blond session ale
Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Fyne Ales beers soon, and a big thank you to Elaine from @FyneAles for sending these through to me!

Buy Fyne Ales here

Caldera IPA

Caldera IPA [baron rating 5/5] - 6.1% copper ale,fresh piny tropical fruits smell,piney sweet tropical fruits taste,long sticky pithy finish

Thank you to Paul from AlesByMail for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Caldera ales here

Acorn Gorlovka

Acorn Gorlovka [baron rating 5/5] - 6% black ale,nutty licorice smell,bitter licorice roasted taste,dry nutty licorice slightly smoky finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it.

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes


This was part of the winter 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

Kernel Pale Ale (Bravo/Apollo)

Kernel Pale Ale (B/A) [baron rating 5/5] - 5.2% copper ale,caramel piny citrus smell,tangerines & resinous taste,citrus bittersweet finish
Note: the B/A stands for Bravo and Apollo hops.


Thank you to Paul from AlesByMail for sending this through for a 'birthday treat / baron rating'!

Buy Kernel ales here

Isle of Purbeck Solar Power

Isle of Purbeck Solar Power [baron rating 3/5] - 4.3% gold ale,corn & floral aroma,slight bittersweet citrus taste,very dry bitter finish

Thank you to @PurbeckBrewery for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Caledonian Deuchars IPA

Caledonian Deuchars IPA [baron rating 3/5] - 4.4% gold ale,slight citrus aroma,balanced citrus slight floral taste,long slight floral finish

Shepherd Neame 1698

Shepherd Neame 1698 [baron rating 4/5] - 6.5% amber ale,toffee & candied sweets smell,spicy sweet candied fruit taste,lasting sweet finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes


Also available in skinny 330ml bottles


Thank you to Rachel from Shepherd Neame for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Shepherd Neame ales here

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Lymestone ales very soon!

When Paul from AlesByMail came up to stay to attend my Marble Beers night at Source Deli he brought a range of beers up for me as well. The Lymestone range of beers below were included in that stash:


Lymestone Brewery

  • Ein Stein - 5% gentle biscuit malt then fresh Hersbrucker hops
  • Foundation Stone - 4.5% chewy juicy fruits then spicy peppery hops
  • Stone Faced - 4% chewy toffee compliment bitter pine & citrus notes
  • Stone The Crows - 5.4% rich dark beer with juicy chewy flavour & lingering bitterness
Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Lymestone beers soon, and a big thank you to Paul from AlesByMail for handing these over  to me!

Buy Lymestone ales here

Write-up of my Marble Beers tasting night

Saturday the 29th January saw the first "The Ormskirk Baron presents" beer night hosted at Source Deli. The first brewery to get the Baron treatment was the excellent Marble Brewery from Manchester.

@Christopher_R & I were running the event, we arranged with Source Deli to source the five regular Marble bottled ales as well as giving everyone a taster of the 2009 Special. I've met Colin from Marble a number of times and so asked him if they would like to attend the evening which they said they would love to, and they also mentioned that they should be able to bring something interesting along for people to try as well.

The Saturday arrived and Chris & I made our way down to Source Deli for 7pm (night was starting at 8pm) along with Paul from AlesByMail who came up for the event as well. Paul from Source Deli was sorting the tables out, and generally getting things ready so I placed down my 'group baron rating' cards and bowls (more on these later).



Matt from Source Deli then appeared placing some bowls of 'bar snacks - Source Deli style' duck sausage rolls, veggie crisps, roasted nuts and the most sharp pickled onions you've every tasted!



James & Colin from Marble arrived with Colin sporting a Demijohn of cool looking experimental beer as well as a crate of unlabelled bottles. The Demijohn contained with Lagonda IPA dry hopped with Citra, and the bottles were their Ginger ale brewed with a German yeast instead of an English one.

These beers along with the brewers showing up were not publicised when we were selling the tickets so I was pretty chuffed that we could over deliver on our promise of a Marble beer night!

Doors opened at 8pm and each of the 20 attendees were handed a real marble on entry in exchange for their ticket. The marble was used to 'baron rate' each beer tried as well as a token to swap with Source Deli at the end of the night for a bottle of their favourite Marble beer.

The beer line-up for the evening was: Manchester Bitter,Lagonda IPA, experimental Lagonda IPA dry hopped with Citra, Chocolate Marble, Dobber, Special 2009, Ginger, experimental Ginger hefeweizen-style.


We kicked off the evening by introducing ourselves and explaining what the evening was about, introduce the Marble brewers and explained about the group baron rating and the use of the Marble.

Then it was time to get the caps off the bottles of Manchester Bitter and pour each person around half a bottle whilst James & Colin explained a bit about the beer to everyone. Each beer got pretty much the same treatment: an introduction from the Marble guys, half a bottle to sample then a quick rush to the bowls for people to place their marble to indicate their 'baron rating'.


The dry-hopped Lagonda was excellent, it retained the fresh citrus-ness that Lagonda IPA has but also added an additional lemony lift in the finish, it was really rather nice and the 'baron ratings' for it below indicate that most people thought the same. The experimental ginger was really interesting, Colin explained that it hadn't had the 'gingering to hell and back' that the normal bottled ginger gets but the German yeast really brought in some cloves and banana and gave the whole beer quite a lift.

Painting by Irene Wilson (see more from her in Source Deli)

There were quite a few ladies at the event which was really encouraging as well as quite a few women who classed themselves as non-beer drinkers who didn't like beer! Chris & I were pretty worried about these people, wondering why they bought a ticket to a beer event but they seemed to find a few the really liked including one lady who's favourite was Dobber - not a 'small beer' by any imagination!


Here are the results of the 'group baron rating':

Beer 5/5 4/5 3/5 2/5 1/5
Manchester Bitter 6 10 4 0 0
Lagonda IPA 9 6 3 2 0
Lagonda IPA (dry hopped Citra) 5 7 6 2 0
Chocolate Marble 3 7 7 3 0
Dobber 8 4 5 3 0
Special 2009 1 7 4 4 4
Ginger 6% 2 7 6 2 0
Ginger (German yeast) 1 7 7 4 1

There was an excellent buzz about the place and Paul & Matt from Source Deli were really happy with how the night was progressing. Chris & I too were so happy that everyone appeared to be really enjoying themselves and the brewers were getting some feedback from everyone as well - I think everyone enjoyed themselves which is the main thing!

Colin & James from Marble talking about Special 2009

Hopefully the attendees will remember which ones they enjoyed and come back and clear the shelves in Source Deli so that Marble know that it's a great place to be stocking their beers! :)

I'd like to thank brewers Colin & James from Marble for giving up their Saturday night and coming along to the event (and thanks to their ladies for driving them over!). A big thank you to Matt & Paul for hosting the event and ensuring that everyone was well catered for, and a massive thank you to Chris for being my wingman & partner in beer crime! :)

Source Deli are already talking about the next "The Ormskirk Baron presents" event so watch this space!

BrewDog Trashy Blonde

BrewDog Trashy Blonde [baron rating 4/5] - 4.1% gold ale,satsuma smell,crisp balanced unsweetened orangey taste,pithy citrus orange finish

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes


Thank you to BrewDog for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy BrewDog ales here or here

Otley Colomb-o

Otley Colomb-o [baron rating 4/5] - 4% gold ale,citrus floral smell,fresh light citrus spicy taste,fruity slightly spicy finish


Thank you to @OtleyBrewingCo from Otley for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Otley ales here

Hawkshead Brodie's Prime

Hawkshead Brodie's Prime [baron rating 4/5] - 4.9% ruby ale,roasted citrus smell,fresh sweet fruity burnt taste,fruity burnt bitter finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it.

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes


This was part of the winter 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 Hawkshead ales here

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Caldea ales very soon!

Paul from AlesByMail popped up last weekend to attend my Marble Beers tasting night at Source Deli (full write-up to come soon). He arrived with his overnight bag and a bag of goodies, three of which were craft ale in cans from Caldera Brewing Company:


Caldera Brewing Company
  • Ashland Amber - 5.6% crisp well balanced refreshing amber. Simplicity is the key to this recipe
  • IPA - 6.1% American-style India Pale Ale brewed with plenty of body and an assertive hop profile
  • Pale Ale - 5.5% West-Coast style pale ale balancing plenty of hops with a malty backbone
Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Caldera beers soon, and a big thank you to Paul from AlesByMail for handing these over  to me!

Buy Caldera ales here

Odell Cutthroat Porter

Odell Cutthroat Porter [baron rating 4/5] - 4.8% black ale,chocolate smell,silky chocolate & roasted taste,chocolate smooth bitter finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it.

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes


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

Buy Odell ales here