Looking forward to baron rating Magic Rock ales

I've been a big fan of myBrewerytap for a while now, both being a paying customer as well as receiving sample bottles and a free subscription to their excellent 52 week beer club. When Richard mentioned that he was starting a brewery I was very excited for him - Magic Rock Brewing Company is the result.

He shared images of the brewery being built, early branding designs as well as finished pumpclips and bottle labels so it's very exciting to be able to gain some samples of the finished product:

Magic Rock Brewing Company

• Cannonball - 7.4% IPA, tropically fruity resinous hops compete against a sweet malt backbone & rasping bitterness
• High Wire - 5.5% West Coast Pale Ale, mango, lychee & lip-smacking grapefruit with a crisp bitter finish
• Rapture - 4.6% Red Hop Ale, uplifting aromas of grapefruit & pine combine with pithy orange against a rich & malty body

These look & sound excellent and I can't wait to try them. I think I also have a new favourite drinking glass for when I'm not baron rating with the All Beer Flavourmax one!

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

Buy Magic Rock ales here

HopZine Citra King

HopZine Citra King [baron rating 4/5] - 7.4% hazy copper ale,sugar citrus grapefruit smell,fruity sweet citrus bitter taste,bitter finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Thank you to @BGRTRob of HopZine for handing this over for a 'baron rating'!

Cumbrian Legendary Grasmoor

Cumbrian Legendary Grasmoor [baron rating 4/5] - 4.3% ruby ale,dried fruits smell,toffee fruitcake choc taste,fruity slightly sweet finish Baron Orm

Note: Not bottle conditioned

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

Buy Cumbrian Legendary Ales here

Great Oakley Gobble

Great Oakley Gobble [baron rating 4/5] - 4.5% gold ale,floral citrus smell,buttery floral citrus taste,dry bitter floral finish Baron Orm

Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

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

Buy Great Oakley ales here

Flying Dog Horn Dog

Flying Dog Horn Dog [baron rating 5/5] - 10.2% dark amber ale,dried fruit smell,smooth fruity balanced sweetness taste,bittersweet finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Not bottle conditioned

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

Buy Flying Dog ales here

Islay Single Malt Ale

Islay Single Malt Ale [baron rating 4/5] - 5% amber ale,fruity rich caramel smell,bitter smoky with big plumy taste,bitter charcoal finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Bottle conditioned with lively carbonation

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

Buy Islay Ales here

Hesket Newmarket Catbells

Hesket Newmarket Catbells [baron rating 2/5] - 5% gold ale,sulphur & lemon skin smell,unbalanced tart fruity citrus taste,fast bitter finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Bottled conditioned with perfect carbonation

Thank you to Greg from Hesket Newmarket for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Hesket Newmarket ales here

BrewDog Avery Brown Dredge

BrewDog Avery Brown Dredge [baron rating 4/5] - 7.5% gold pilsner,grassy smell,big sweet resinous bitter taste,herbal bitter resin finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Not bottle conditioned

Thank you to @BGRTRob of HopZine for handing this over for a 'baron rating'!

Bitter End Lakeland IPA

Bitter End Lakeland IPA [baron rating 4/5] - 5.5% copper ale,faint citrus toffee smell,spicy fruity toffee taste,fresh fruity bitter finish Baron Orm

Note: We baron rated this one back in March 2010 and gave it a 3/5 - they've obviously been tweaking the recipe as it's miles better now!

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

This was part of 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 Bitter End ales here

Baron on Tour: Ales By Mail warehouse

I was 'down south' a couple of weeks ago for a beer & food matching night run by Ales By Mail. Paul from Ales By Mail invited me to look around his warehouse and this is what I found:

Are words required? What an amazing collection of ales from the UK and abroad as well as an impressive collection of glassware!

Order any of this stuff from here

Baron on Tour: AlesByMail craft beer & food tasting

I was lucky enough to be asked by Ales By Mail if I would like to attend their first craft beer & food tasting night held at the Mustard Bar & Bistro a couple of weeks ago. It was a six-course meal with each food item paired with a specific beer, here is the menu:

• Sambrooks Wandle ale with homemade scotch egg & pork scratching
  I'm not a massive fan of Wandle on it's own but with the food it was the perfect match
• Pitfield Ginger beer with ham hock terrine & pineapple chutney
  The ginger ale lacked anything exciting about it but was saved by the lovely taste of the terrine

• Calvors premium lager with smoked bacon, brie & cranberry pie
  A perfect match - such a lovely lager and amazing pie - yum!

• Green Jack Canary Pale Ale with fresh mussels cooked in the same ale
  I'm not a seafood fan at all but the Canary is an amazingly delicious beer and worked nicely with it
• Meantime Chocolate beer with braised rib of beef,pototo puree, parsley & lemon
  Although the beef was extremely tasty, I felt the beer stomped all over it and was too brutal for the savoury course
• Stringers Dry Stout with chocolate truffles & peanut brittle
  The stout was not a good match for the truffles but worked amazingly well with the nutty peanut brittle

It was an excellent evening, both Richard of Mustard & Paul from Ales By Mail did a great job talking us through the courses and the food & drink was lovely! A massive thank you to Paul for hosting the event & looking after me, I'd certainly recommend this type of evening if you are in the area. Also thanks to Brentwood Brewing Company for being such lovely people - I was sat with them and they had to put up with me! :D

Innis & Gunn Blonde

Innis & Gunn Blonde [baron rating 2/5] - 6% copper ale,cinnamon & vanilla smell,sweet fruity vanilla taste,sticky fruity vanilla finish Baron Orm

Note: Not bottle conditioned

Cumbrian Legendary Langdale

Cumbrian Legendary Langdale [baron rating 5/5] - 4% gold ale,delicate citrus smell,sweet citrus floral bitter taste,dry bitter finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Not bottle conditioned

Thank you to Cumbrian Legendary Ales for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Cumbrian Legendary ales here

Williams Bros Black

Williams Bros Black [baron rating 3/5] - 4.2% dark ruby ale,mild liquorice smell,slightly sweet liquorice mild-like taste,milky finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Not bottle conditioned

Thank you to Williams Bros. for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Williams Bros ales here and here

Hardknott Granite 2010

Hardknott Granite 2010 [baron rating 4/5] - 10.1% dark ruby ale,plumy fruity smell,wine-like very sweet fruity taste,sweet medicinal finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Thank you to Dave and Ann from Hardknott Brewery for handing this over for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Hardknott ales here

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

The Isle of Man-based Okells Brewery doesn't get much talk on twitter, probably due to the fact that their beers are so hard to get hold of "off island" so when they offered to send me a mixed case I jumped at the chance. Okells bitter is a beer that I've enjoyed on many a business trip to the isle of man so a chance to try their bottled range is a must:

Okells Brewery

• 1907 - 6.1% light & crisp,with a refreshing hint of lemon & dry, bitter finish
• Aile - 4.7% smoked Celtic porter
• Doctor Okell's IPA - 4.5% India Pale Ale
• Mac Lir - 4.4% wheat beer, light golden colour, refreshing burst of sweetness, complex dry finish

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

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Brentwood Lumberjack very soon!

I received a selection of Brentwood ales a while back and have been very impressed with the quality of their bottled range. One ale that didn't make it was Lumberjack but fortunately I was down near Brentwood Brewery recently and so had the chance to pop in, take a quick look around and grab a bottle of it for review:

• Brentwood Lumberjack - 5.2% strong, sweetish fully bodied bitter

Jim was very kind enough to supply me with a couple of bottles of Lumberjack as well as some more Chockwork Orange [baron rating 5/5] (we are going to do some food matching with it) as well as some 'direct from cask' samples of their PPA (Pacific Pale Ale) and Blonde. I got a quick tour and also managed to snap head brewer Sophie and Jim together.







It's a nice little setup they have going down there, and I sampled their Gold and BBC2 on tap the night before, the BBC2 is a lovely tasty quaffable beer and only 2.5%!

Thanks again to Jim & Sophie for the look around and the samples, I really enjoyed both the cask samples, the PPA had an amazing aroma and was very tasty and the Blonde was such a good session ale that I wish I'd had more than just the 1 pint container! :)

Adnams Tally-Ho 2010

Adnams Tally-Ho 2010 [baron rating 5/5] - 7.2% ruby ale,raisin smell,warming rounded dried fruit fruitcake taste,sweet juicy raisin finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Not bottle conditioned

Thank you to Fergus from Adnams for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Adnams ales here

Freedom Stout

Freedom Stout [baron rating 4/5] - 4% black stout,slightly sweet choc smell,rounded smooth nutty bit thin taste,nutty slightly smoky finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Not bottle conditioned

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

Buy Freedom ales here

Mallinsons Motueka

Mallinsons Motueka [baron rating 4/5] - 3.7% gold ale,mango peach smell,punchy bitterness tropical taste,zingy resinous herbal finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Thank you to Tara from Mallinsons for handing this over for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Mallinsons ales here and here

Oakham Inferno

Oakham Inferno [baron rating 4/5] - 4.4% pale gold ale,citrus mild floral smell,floral juicy mild citrus taste,dry (powdery?) floral finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Not bottle conditioned

This was part of 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 Oakham ales here

Details of myBrewerytap's 52 week beer club (Summer 2011)

The summer box of myBrewerytap's excellent "52 week beer club" arrived at the end of last week, here are the details of what's in the box as well as an unboxing video:

Watch Chris & I unbox the latest myBrewerytap beers:


Video recorded on Chris's excellent camera, the Panasonic LX5

• Bitter End Lakeland IPA [ baron rating 3/5] -5.5% ?
• Cotleigh Barn Owl [baron rating 4/5] -4.5% copper coloured premium bitter with hints of toffee & nut
• Dark Star Sunburst [baron rating 4/5] -4.8% gold ale with grapefruit aroma
• Hawkshead Red [baron rating 4/5] -4.4% bitter sweet rich & fruity
• Hewitt's Un-Hung Hero -5% refreshingly bottle conditioned pale ale

• Ilkley Mary Jane [baron rating 3/5] -3.5% crisp & pale with a citrus aroma
• Lymestone Foundation Stone -4.5% biscuit & chewy juicy fruit with spicy peppery taste
• Meantime Wheat -5% with characteristic banana toffee cloves aroma
• Moorhouse's Blond Witch [baron rating 3/5] -4.5% refreshing ale with a sweet citrus dry finish

• Oakham Inferno [baron rating 4/5] -4.4% complex fruits on the tongue with a dry fruity bitter finish
• Ossett Yorkshire Blonde [baron rating 4/5] -4.5% lager coloured ale,full bodied,well rounded & slightly sweet
• Williams Bros Seven Giraffes [baron rating 4/5] -5.1% 7 varieties of malted barley, wild elderflowers & lemon zest to create an aromatic moreish beer
• York Minster Ale - 4.2% premium bitter

Thank you to Richard from myBrewerytap for the complementary membership to the club, I really enjoyed being a paying member of it last year and so far it looks like it's going to be even better!

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

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Cumbrian Legendary Ales very soon!

A pack of lovely looking ales was delivered yesterday from Cumbrian Legendary Ales, mostly famous for their strikingly labeled Croglin Vampire ale. This was present in the pack along with a few others:

Cumbrian Legendary Ales

• American Invasion - 5% beautifully balanced with a strong fruit taste & long bitter finish
• Croglin Vampire - 8% doppelbock with rich malty flavours
• Langdale - 4% delicious bitter with aroma of english fruit
• Loweswater Gold - 4.3% award-winning golden ale with a tropical fruit flavour

Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Cumbrian Legendary beers soon, and a big thank you to Roger from Cumbrian Legendary Ales for sending these through to me!

Buy Cumbrian Legendary ales here