Worthington's P2 Imperial Stout

Worthington's P2 Imperial Stout [baron rating 5/5] - 8% black ale,earthy gravy choc smell,smooth liquorice taste,oxo bitter dark choc finish

Listen to what Chris, Paul (Source Deli) and the Baron have to say about it.

Note: The audio review has a load of glitches which we only knew about after the evening had finished :(

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Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Westerham Jubilation Ale

Westerham Jubilation Ale [baron rating 4/5] - 4% copper ale,citrus mild vanilla smell,zingy clementine bitter taste,spicy musty dry finish
Listen to what Chris, Paul (Source Deli) and the Baron have to say about it.

Note: The audio review has a load of glitches which we only knew about after the evening had finished :(

Download flash to hear the audio review
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Note: Cask-conditioned with perfect carbonation

Thank you to @WesterhamBrew from  Westerham Brewery for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Westerham ales direct

Westerham British Bulldog

Westerham British Bulldog [baron rating 4/5] - 4.3% amber ale,fruity toffee smell,bittersweet 'apple pie' taste,caramel fruity bitter finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it.

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Note: Cask-conditioned with perfect carbonation

Thank you to @WesterhamBrew from  Westerham Brewery for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Westerham ales direct

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout [baron rating 5/5] - 10% black stout,vinous choc smell,mild vinous dark choc taste,smoky bitter choc finish

Listen to what Chris, Paul (Source Deli) and the Baron have to say about it.

Note: The audio review has a load of glitches which we only knew about after the evening had finished :(

Download flash to hear the audio review
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Note: Not bottle conditioned

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

Buy Brooklyn ales from Slurp Beer

Looking forward to baron rating Slurp Beer ales

Here's our James Bond-style trailer for the mixed pack of beer:



Slurp are an established online wine retailer who decide to start stocking beer back in June 2010 but really started to push it in May 2011 with the creation of a whole new section for beer, a dedicated Twitter account @SlurpBeer as well as offering some pretty hefty promotions at the start to get some people aware and interested in their stock. They have been from all over the world and the range and prices are very good indeed.

Slurp offered to send a mixed case of beer through for review and as you know I'm always up for trying beers I've not baron rated before. Richard from Slurp packed a surprise mixed case for me and this is what he sent:



Canterbury Brewers
  • Foundry Man’s Gold - 4% golden ale with strong citrus & elderflower aromas with a subtle lingering bitterness. Hops are Magnum & Citra
  • Foundry Torpedo -4.5% straw coloured ale with an explosive crisp finish. Hops are Cascade & Bramling Cross
  • Foundry Red Rye - 5.6% reddish gold ale,spice from the rye malt. Hops are Citra & Chinook
  • Street Light Porter - 5.8% dark malty porter with strong toffee character and a liquorice finish. Hops are Goldings & Floral Willemette

Brooklyn Brewery
  • Black Chocolate Stout -10% imperial stout,chocolate aroma & flavour due to six varieties of black, chocolate & roasted malts
  • East India Pale Ale -6.9% IPA brewed with English malts and hops
  • Brooklyn Pennant Ale -5% toasty, biscuity flavour with a fruity and dry finish
  • Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber Lager -5.5% amber lager? No description on the bottle...
  • Goose Island 312 - 4.4% wheat ale? No description on the bottle...
  • Stone Levitation - 4.4% ale? No description on the bottle...
  • Stone Pale Ale - 5.4% pale ale? No description on the bottle...
  • Silly Saison - 5% Belgian Saison
  • Jever Pilsener - 4.9% pilsner
  • Wentwell Barrel Organ Blues - 4.5% golden brown with a malty aroma,smooth in taste
Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Slurp Beer ales soon, and a big thank you to Richard (@SlurpBeer) for sending them through to me!

Buy all these beers from Slurp Beer

Banks's UCB

Banks's UCB [baron rating 5/5] - 5.3% amber ale,mild spicy & sulphur smell,spicy oily bittersweet caramel taste,mildly sweet spicy finish


Note: Not bottle conditioned

The Beer Stick - the perfect bottle opener?

I'm always on the lookout for new gadgets and items involved in the beer world and bottle openers are no exception. I read about a great bottle opener on The Brew Bros website called The Beer Stick which looked great and also worked a treat for getting caps off in a pristine state.



I got in touch with Ben Focht @TheBeerStick about them and he kindly sent a few over the pond, these are the first to set foot in the UK:

They are beautiful hand-made bottle openers made from sustainable, renewable USA resources made in Denver, Colorado. They look really nice and feel really nice, and the ones that arrived still had a smell of burnt wood from the branding that they have received!

The great thing with this bottle opener is that it removes the cap so cleanly that you can't tell that it's even been on a bottle, there's no crease, no bend, no deformation of the cap sides to indicate that it's been prised off. Check out the un-bottling video below for proof:



Competition time folks!

If you would like to win the third ever Beer Stick to enter the UK (Chris and I have the other two) then please leave a comment below with the reason why you need The Beer Stick - give me your sob story about cheap plastic bottle openers or about failed openings of prized bottle tops, whatever you think would make me pick you over the others!

Thank you to Ben (@TheBeerStick) from The Beer Stick for sending this through to me!

Holts Maplemoon

Holts Maplemoon [baron rating 3/5] - 4.8% amber ale,mild maple syrup citrus smell,mild syrup bittersweet taste,lasting slightly sweet finish


Note: Not bottle conditioned

Glastonbury Golden Chalice

Glastonbury Golden Chalice [baron rating 2/5] - 4.8% gold ale,honey floral vegetal smell,zingy floral honey taste,long citrus fruity finish

Note: Bottle conditioned with lively carbonation

Avery Ellie's Brown Ale

Avery Ellie's Brown Ale [baron rating 3/5] - 5.5% dark amber ale,treacle smell,treacle sweet plummy taste,dry sticky finish

Note: Not can-conditioned ;)



I don't know what it is about American canned craft ales but I just love them!

Thank you to @PintsAndPanels from PintsAndPanels for sending this over for a 'baron rating'!

If you fancy some cartoon-style reviews of beers then make sure you check out the PintsAndPanels website.

Summer Wine Hermes

Summer Wine Hermes [baron rating 5/5] - 5% pale gold ale,mandarin grapefruit smell,piney bitter grapefruit taste,long peppery bitter finish

Note: Not bottle conditioned

Buy Summer Wine ales from Source Deli

Banks's Fine Fettle

Banks's Fine Fettle [baron rating 4/5] - 4.8% amber ale,fruity mild spicy smell,caramel spicy citrus bitter taste,peppery dry finish


Note: Not bottle conditioned

Wadworth Bishop's Tipple

Wadworth Bishop's Tipple [baron rating 4/5] - 5.5% copper ale,sultana caramel smell,controlled sweet caramel taste,fruity mild bitter finish


Note: Not bottle conditioned

Looking forward to baron rating Loddon ales

Loddon Brewery have rebranded recently and by doing so have featured on the Baron's radar due to a mention of it via the SIBA website. I got in touch with Loddon about the rebrand and a few days later a lovely set of ales arrived at Baron Towers:



Each bottle shares a consistent look, nice simple branding with a dominant dragonfly, clear labelling on the front of the brewery and beer name and ABV and a QR code on the back for more info about the ale.

I really like the QR code idea and I think it's great that Loddon have put them on the labels but I really would have prefered being sent to a mobile-specific website rather than to their main website where I need to scroll left-right to read about the ale (it's a small thing but affects performance and usability)

Loddon Brewery
  • Ferryman's Gold - 4.8% golden,smooth, aromatic and zesty
  • Forbury Lion Strong IPA - 5.5% true IPA! Malty and packed with hops
  • Hocus Pocus Old Ale - 5% rich, smooth and ruby red in colour
  • Hoppit - 3.9% classic bitter, highly hopped session ale
  • Russet - 4.7% multigrain bitter, ruby red brewed with barley,oats,wheat & crystal rye
Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Loddon Brewery beers soon, and a big thank you to @LoddonBrewery for sending them through to me!

Buy Loddon ales direct

Marble Saison Special 2011

Marble Saison Special 2011 [baron rating 5/5] - 9% copper ale,apple pear funky smell,tangy apricot nectarine taste,dry herbal bitter finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it.

Download flash to hear the audio review
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Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Buy Marble ales from Source Deli

St Peters Cream Stout

St Peters Cream Stout [baron rating 2/5] - 6.5% black stout,berries red wine smell,creamy black currants & berries taste,smoky berry finish

Listen to what Chris, Paul (Source Deli) and the Baron have to say about it.

Download flash to hear the audio review
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Note: Not bottle conditioned

Badger Poacher's Choice

Badger Poacher's Choice [baron rating 1/5] - 5.7% dark amber ale,Ribena plumy smell,balanced warming fruity taste,liquorice Ribena finish


Note: Not bottle conditioned

Mallinsons Citra

Mallinsons Citra [baron rating 5/5] - 3.9% pale gold ale,tangerine smell,floral fresh sweet grapefruit taste,soft tropical bitter taste
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it.

Download flash to hear the audio review
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Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

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

Buy Mallinsons ales from Source Deli & myBrewerytap

Looking forward to baron rating Westerham mini-casks

Westerham Brewery in Kent have produced a solid range of bottled ales for a while (I baron rated a bunch back in 2010) but I've not heard much from them since. This changed around a week ago when they tweeted that they had produced Jubilation Ale - a heavily hopped ale using nine different Kentish hops!

They told me that it was only available on cask and then today two mini-casks of Westerham ale arrived:















Westerham Brewery
  • British Bulldog - 4.3% rich, full bodied best bitter. Hopped with local Kent Northdown & Finchcocks' Whitbread Golding Variety. Finished with Progress hops from Scotney Castle for a full flavour and aroma
  • Jubilation Ale -  4% ale, see:golden honey,smell: mango,citrus,fresh hop,taste:hoppy,seville orange, dry finish. It's made with 9 different Kent bred and Kent grown hops, Quadruple hopped
Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Westerham Brewery beers soon, and a big thank you to @WesterhamBrew for sending them through to me!

Buy Westerham ales direct

Kernel Export Stout London 1890

Kernel Export Stout London 1890 [baron rating 3/5] - 7.8% black stout,coffee TCP smell,thin sweet roasted taste,sweet medicinal finish
Listen to what Chris, Paul (Source Deli) and the Baron have to say about it.

Download flash to hear the audio review
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Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

I'd been holding onto this beer for over a year as it was my last Kernel beer that I had and due to it's strength I knew I could age it. It was a big let down, there's nothing wrong with the beer but I'd built it up to be something much more than it was in my mind and was saving it for "that special occasion" - I think the audio expresses this.

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

Buy Kernel ales here

Kent Crisps reviews

A few weeks ago I was sent some samples from Kent Crisps (@KentCrisps) and we tried these during our last audio baron rating session. They have nice photographic packets and look good in the bowl but what do they taste like?


Rather than give them baron ratings we though we would just record our thoughts live as we opened the pack and sampled them:

Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about Kent Crisps Ashmore Cheese & Onion

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Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about Kent Crisps Oyster & Vinegar

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Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about Kent Crisps Sea Salt

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Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about Kent Crisps Sea Salt & Biddenden Cider Vinegar

Download flash to hear the audio review
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These crisps were good although we found the cheese and oyster ones to have massive flavours and the others to be much milder, maybe if they were of a similar level it would balance them out a little? Saying that, the oyster ones were probably my favourite as you actually got a sense that you were 'tasting the sea'.

I wasn't so keen on the slightly thicker cut of these crisps although Chris thought they were excellent so make of that what you will!

Thank you to Liz from @KentCrisps for sending them through to me!

Buy Kent Crisps via their Store Locator

Durham White Stout

Durham White Stout [baron rating 5/5] - 7.2% gold ale,Belgian funky smell,spicy creamy vanilla fruit salad taste,sticky sweet herbal finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it.

Download flash to hear the audio review
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Note: Bottle conditioned with lively carbonation

Thank you to Elly Bell (@Durhambreweryel) from Durham Brewery for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Durham ales direct

Looking forward to baron rating Durham ales (tonight!)

I found out yesterday morning via @Filrd that Durham Brewery were doing a White Stout Twitter Tasting event this evening at 8:30pm. Well Elly Bell at Durham Brewery pulled out all the stops yesterday to ensure that I got mine in time for tonight, she even made the ParcelForce driver wait whilst she finished packing my beer! (thank you so much!).

This is what arrived less than 24 hours later:


Durham Brewery
  • St Cuthbert - 6.5% light golden IPA,modern strong & aromatic IPA with pronounced citrus & orange notes
  • Temptation - 10% black Russian stout,massive body supports oily coffee, liquorice & chocolate flavours
  • White Stout - 7.2% pale stout, strong & full with a spicy bitter/sweet finish
We will be joining in the twitter chatting this evening whilst Chris & I sample the beer using the #whitestout hash tag and we will also be audio reviewing it and getting it live as quickly as possible tonight as well!

Look out for 'baron ratings' for the other Durham Brewery beers soon, and a big thank you to Elly Bell (@Durhambreweryel) for sending them through to me!

RedWillow Fathomless

RedWillow Fathomless [baron rating 3/5] - 5.2% black stout,choc liquorice smell,rich smooth but watery taste,long rich red liquorice finish

Listen to what Chris, Paul (Source Deli) and the Baron have to say about it.

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Note: Bottle conditioned with some carbonation

Thank you to Toby from RedWillow Brewery for handing this over for a 'baron rating'!

Buy RedWillow ales from Source Deli

Baron on Tour: Hardknott Meet the Brewer

Last Saturday night was the next in the series of "Meet the Brewer" nights at Source Deli in Ormskirk. This time it was Hardknott's turn and they added a little twist, each beer was match with a particular food.

Chris and I got there around 7:30 (official kick-off was at 8pm) to find Hardknott Dave & Ann (as well as Andrew & lady) there setting up as well as a few other early starters.

As we had a little while before the Hardknott ales would be presented we decided that a Marble Dobber was really the only way to start - although we had a tough choice, check out the range of ales that Source Deli now stocks:



The place really filled up with 28 of the 25 places available filling the room and getting a good buzz - everyone was in good spirits, I think everyone had a pre-drink drink :)

Dave started the evening by introducing himself, Ann and the brewery and said that his bottled beer selection was designed to be paired with food. Source Deli know a thing or two about food and both Paul and Matt who own and run the place enjoy their ales so we were all looking forward to trying out the matches.

As it was standing room only, the food was all finger food - considering that some courses were curries I was wondering how we weren't going to make a complete mess of the place!

The first beer of the evening was Infra Red (Ruby IPA) which was paired with Beetroot & marinated feta tart. Dave picked out  a roast parsnip (caramelised vegetables) smell in his ale which was mainly coming for the large amount of crystal malt used to provide the reddish tint and toffee/caramel smell.

It worked really well with the beetroot tart (this was proper beetroot, not the vinegar-soaked stuff). Infra Red also has a strong hoppy side to it which Dave told us was coming from the heavy use of some US citrus hops - Cascade & Centennial. It's also dry-hopped with pellets when in the tank for further hoppiness!

Next was Dark Energy (Stout) which was paired with Goan fish curry. The first mouthful of this match was really good with the beer providing a peppery finish but after that the beer dominated and I wasn't convinced - it's an excellent beer though and quite hoppy for a stout.

Code Black (Black IPA) was paired with Slow roast pork belly, chick pea & crisp chorizo stew. Code Black is hopped with Cascade & Amarillo to provide some citrus & grapefruit flavours along with the coffee and chocolate which was coming from the malt.

The pork belly was an excellent match, the slight spiciness of both the food and the beer worked amazingly well - I would have had this combo as a full course.

Aether Blaec (Whisky barrel aged stout) which was paired with Slow cooked beef shin with horse radish bubble & squeak cake - This was a good match as well, this year's Aether Blaec is a bit more forgiving than last years and the slow cooked beef (either cooked for 6 or 8 hours depending on if you talked to Paul or Matt) was amazing.

The beefy meaty gravy flavours of the food worked well with the strong sweet stout aspects of the beer. It also highlighted to me that whisky-barrelled ales should be judged per version which is produced - this year's is miles smoother and easier to drink than last years - it's all down to the barrel.

Next was Queboid (Double IPA) which was paired with Cheese board (Cropwell Bishop Blue Stilton & Quicke's farmhouse mature cheddar). Dave explained that Queboid was a Belgium-style double IPA and so along with the hoppiness gave some banana and golden syrup qualities. It went well with the cheese, which was two small squares of cheese on a long cracker so you could try the beer with each cheese. It went well with the cheese and the new 300ml bottled version is a lot less sweet compared to the 500ml older bottles - A better move in my opinion.

Granite (Barley Wine) which was paired with Bakewell tart. Granite was the strongest beer that Dave has ever made at 10.1% (at that point). They reheat the sugary wort with more barley to get even more sugars out of it to get the sweetness up so that the yeast can go mental and produce a high ABV beer.

It was reasonable match with the Bakewell tart (didn't note the reason why not - it was getting to 'that' stage of the evening!).

Last up was Vitesse Noir (Triple Imperial Vanilla Mocha Stout) which was paired with Hazelnut biscotti with bitter chocolate & salt caramel. This was an excellent match, the bitter chocolate was holding back the sweetness of the stout - really really good food match.

That concluded the meet the brewer evening also Dave & Ann stuck around for quite a while afterwards as did Karl from Liverpool Organic Brewery and quite a few others. Source Deli's shelves were slowly demolished as people bought a ton of beer to take home with them.


All in all it was an excellent evening, a great event for Hardknott brewery to get their ale range tried by the beer-loving folk of Ormskirk (and was brilliant to catch up with Dave & Ann again), and a great night for Source Deli to see their excellent line-up of craft ales!

Dave recently posted an excellent video summary of the event, make sure you check it our to hear him introduce each course. Maybe you could also play 'spot the baron'?

Summer Wine Cohort

Summer Wine Cohort [baron rating 5/5] - 7.5% double black ale,vinous choc roasted smell,frothy fruity smoky choc taste,smoky bitter finish

Listen to what Chris, Paul (Source Deli) and the Baron have to say about it.

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Note: Not bottle conditioned

Thank you to Paul from Source Deli for bringing this round for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Summer Wine ales from Source Deli

RedWillow Wreckless

RedWillow Wreckless [baron rating 5/5] - 4.8% pale gold ale,grapefruit smell,floral tropical slightly sweet taste,long fruity bitter finish


Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Buy RedWillow ales from Source Deli

Fort George Vortex IPA

Fort George Vortex IPA [baron rating 5/5] - 7.7% copper ale,piney resin fresh hops smell,sweet candied resin bitter taste,dry piney finish


Note: Not can-conditioned ;)

I don't know what it is about American canned craft ales but I just love them!

Thank you to @PintsAndPanels from PintsAndPanels for sending this over for a 'baron rating'!

If you fancy some cartoon-style reviews of beers then make sure you check out the PintsAndPanels website.

Windsor & Eton Conqueror 1075

Not bottle conditioned
Windsor & Eton Conqueror 1075 [baron rating 5/5] - 7.4% black ale,vinous roasted smell,rich warming orange taste,vanilla choc orange finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

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Thank you to @WindsorEtonBrew from Windsor & Eton Brewery for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Windsor & Eton ales direct or from Ales By Mail

Stonehouse Station Bitter

Stonehouse Station Bitter [baron rating 3/5] - 3.9% amber ale,mild boiled fruits smell,delicate fruit bread taste,mild juicy herbal finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it.

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Note: Bottle conditioned with slightly lively carbonation

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