Looking forward to baron rating these Badger ales soon

I mentioned via Twitter recently that I'd spotted that Badger Ales (Hall & Woodhouse) had released a number of new ales into the Badger lineup that I'd not tried. They offered to send some over and this is what arrived today:

Hall & Woodhouse
  • Daring Diver - 4.7% See: light copper, Smell: hoppy, citrus, Taste: hoppy with  biscuit undertones
  • Firkin Fox - 4.6% See: auburn, Smell: intense, citrus hop, Taste: biscuity maltiness, refreshing hop
  • Leaping Legend -  4.8% See: autumnal gold, Smell: citrus, grapefruit hop, Taste: fresh, full, hoppy
Look out for baron ratings for these beers soon, and a big thank you to  @Badgerales from Hall & Woodhouse for sending them through for a baron rating!

Buy Badger ales direct


Badger Wild Wader

Not bottle conditioned
Badger Wild Wader [baron rating 5/5] - 4.2% gold ale,mild sweet grapefruit smell,spicy fleshy fruit taste,juicy bittersweet finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

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Brecon Cwrw-istmas Beacons

Not bottle conditioned
Brecon Cwrw-istmas Beacons [baron rating 3/5] - 4.2% gold ale,fruitcake nutmeg cinnamon smell,crisp bready fruity taste,spicy finish
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 me their Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2015.

Buy Brecon ales from Ales By Mail

Asahi Super Dry Black

Not bottle conditioned
Asahi Super Dry Black [baron rating 3/5] - 5.5% black beer,faint sweet roasted smell,creamy stout vanilla cola taste,dry mild vanilla finish
Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it

Subscribe in iTunes
Thank you to John Humphreys (@ShepherdNeame) from Shepherd Neame for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Asahi & Shepherd Neame ales direct

Looking forward to trying a range of Black Country Snacks






During a recent Baron Rating beer tasting session with my review buddy Chris we decided to try a number of different packets of pork scratchings available locally. During the evening Black Country Snacks got in touch to offer us some more from their snack range:

A lot of pork went into making this lot!
Black Country Snacks
  • Alf Turner Dragon's Fury - premium chilli pork crackling (50g)
  • Alf Turner Pork Scratchings - premium butchers quality (70g)
  • No Nonsense Just Proper Black Country Double Cooked Pork Crackling - (50g)
  • No Nonsense Just Proper Black Country Hot Pork Crunch - beware hot crunch (30g)
  • Black Country Traditional Crackling - MSG free, gluten free, hand cooked quality pork scratching (60g)
  • Q Salted Peanuts - roasted & salted peanuts (50g)
Look out for our views on these soon, and a big thank you to Black Country Snacks (@bcscratchings)  for sending them through!

Looking forward to trying Freshers Openshaws Big Bag traditional pork scratchings

I wanted to explore what pork scratchings were available in Ormskirk recently and so visited a few supermarkets to see what they had. After tweeting about the selection a couple of weeks ago, Freshers Foods in Wigan tweeted saying that I was missing out on a major manufacturer of pub snacks and offered to send me some, this is what arrived late last week:

75 grams of seasoned porky goodness & it really is a big bag!
 Freshers Foods
  • Openshaws Big Bag - traditional pork scratchings, seasoned fried pork rind (75g)
Look out for our views on these soon, and a big thank you to Freshers Foods (@FreshersFoods)  for sending them through!

Looking forward to baron rating Asahi Super Dry Black very soon

Shepherd Neame are a solid supporter of the Baron and for that I thank them greatly. Regardless of whether it is a new beer they have brewed or a newly imported one, a nice brown box arrives at Baron Towers:

Shiny labels are a camera's enemy
Asahi Brewery
  • Super Dry Black - 5.5%  dark lager, brewed using the same No.318 yeast as their flagship beer but with the addition of roasted malt to achieve a deeper, flavour and darker appearance
Look out for baron ratings for this beer soon, and a big thank you to  John Humphreys from Shepherd Neame for sending it through for a baron rating!

Buy Asahi & Shepherd Neame ales direct

Salopian Midnight Express

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation
Salopian Midnight Express [baron rating 5/5] - 5.2% black ale,choc plum berry smell,thick vineous choc coffee taste,bitter coffee finish
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 Red Star Weissbier soon

Holborn Ales, one of my local beer shops handed this over for me to review this week, it's from a newish local brewery based in Formby.


Red Star Brewery

  • Weissbier - 5.3% award winning Belgian style wheat beer, naturally cloudy and packed with big hitting flavours
Look out for a 'baron rating' for this Red Star Brewery beer soon, and a big thank you to Ian from Holborn Ales for handing it over to me!


Saltaire Kala

Not bottle conditioned
Saltaire Kala [baron rating 5/5] - 6.2% black ale,choc roasted smell,smooth coffee piney citrus bitter taste,fresh juicy choc finish
Buy Saltaire ales from Holborn Ales

RedWillow Shameless can

Not can conditioned
RedWillow Shameless can [baron rating 5/5] - 5.9% copper ale, mango green hop smell,sweet fruity piney bitter taste,big piney bitter finish
Buy RedWillow ales from Holborn Ales

Day Of The Dead Hop On Or Die

Not bottle conditioned
Day Of The Dead Hop On Or Die [baron rating 4/5] - 6.8% copper ale,mild fruity smell,massive resinous peppery taste,resinous bitter finish
Thank you to Paul Kruzycki from Ales By Mail for sending me their Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2015.

Buy Day Of The Dead ales from Ales By Mail

RedWillow Wreckless can

Not can conditioned
RedWillow Wreckless can [baron rating 4/5] - 4.8% gold ale,fresh hop smell,balanced pineapple spict taste,fresh fruity slight spicy finish
Buy RedWillow ales from Holborn Ales

Adnams (M&S) Sorachi Saison

Not bottle conditioned
Adnams (M&S) Sorachi Saison [baron rating 4/5] - 6% gold ale,lemon dill bubblegum smell,acidic floral fruity taste,long dry spicy finish
Buy M&S ales from Marks & Spencer

Siren Calypso

Not bottle conditioned
Siren Calypso [baron rating 5/5] - 4% gold ale,mango pineapple smell,refreshing zingy sour lemon taste,juicy sour finish
Thank you to Paul Kruzycki from Ales By Mail for sending me their Craft Beer Advent Calendar 2015.

Buy Siren ales from Ales By Mail