Bear Republic Racer 5

Bear Republic Racer 5 [baron rating 5/5] - 7% copper IPA,resin citrus mango smell,tropical sweet pine resin taste,fruity resinous finish Baron Orm

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

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Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

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.

Oskar Blues Old Chub

Oskar Blues Old Chub [baron rating 4/5] - 8% dark amber ale,raisin brown sugar smell,sweet cola syrup boozy taste,long treacle raisin finish Baron Orm

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.

Details of my International beerswap with PintsAndPanels

The Baroness recently disappeared off to Eugene, Oregon and as it happened PintsAndPanels, a comic-strip beer reviewer also very recently moved out to Eugene from the East coast of the states to work at the excellent-sounding 16 Tons beer store. When I found this out I just knew that we had to do an international beerswap - after all it's a big WIN for both of us to be able to try beers that we can't normally pick up.

Here's a photo of my 'package':

And here's the line-up:

•  Adnams Tally-Ho 2009 [baron rating 5/5] - 7.2% bottle-conditioned barley wine style beer
• Dark Star Imperial Stout 2009 [baron rating 5/5] - 10.5% bottle-conditioned complex beer with a big flavour
• Magic Rock Human Cannonball [baron rating 5/5] - 9.2% double IPA, massive pine & candied orange aromas,with bitter/sweet grapefruit & mango flavours
• Stringers IPA [baron rating 5/5] - 5.5% bottled version of their Victoria IPA

And this is what came back:

And here's the line-up:

• Avery Ellie's Brown Ale - 5.5% deep russet brew,dominated by chocolate & brown sugar maltiness with hints of vanilla & nuts,producing a very smooth, well-balanced & quaffable brown ale [ratebeer 90%]
• Bear Republic Racer 5 - 7% aggressive styled India Pale Ale. This golden, well hopped, bottle-conditioned ale demands your attention [ratebeer 99%]
• Fort George Vortex IPA - 7.7% IPA. We didn't want to make an IPA that would rip the taste buds off your tongue,but something that harnessed the power of Simcoe, Amarilla, and Cascade hope to the gentleness of 2-row barley in a vortex of extreme lupulin ecstasy. [ratebeer 94%]
• Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale - 6.5% Rocky Mountain pale ale [ratebeer 98%]
• Oskar Blues Old Chub - 8% Scotch ale [ratebeer 97%]

I am sooooo looking forward to trying these beers, American canned craft ales is one of my interests and I've also really wanted to try Racer 5 since so many other bloggers raved on about it - I can't wait to get stuck in!

A massive thank you to PintsAndPanels for agreeing to a beerswap, please follow her at @PintsAndPanels to see what she thinks of our British ales!

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

My mini #beerswap has arrived!

Back Back in April  a national beerswap was organised by @BeerReviewsAndy (of Beer Reviews fame) & @MarkDredge (of Pencil & Spoon fame). I sent my four bottles to Mitchel Adams of The Thatchers Arms pub.

Mitch liked my selection and mentioned that he would love to get bottles of Southport Old Shrimper & George Wright Cheeky Pheasant again. After a few tweets with Mitch an Ormskirk-Bures #beerswap was on!

These are the five beers that I sent:

• Cains Fine Raisin Beer [baron rating coming soon]

• George Wright Cheeky Pheasant [baron rating 4/5]

• Marble Lagonda IPA [baron rating 5/5]

• Marble Stouter Port Stout [baron rating 4/5]

• Southport Old Shrimper [baron rating 4/5]

And these are the five that I received:

• Crouch Vale Amarillo - 5% golden premium ale

• Crouch Vale Apollo - 4.3% intensely hoppy ale

• Crouch Vale  FPA - 5.9% extra strong fine pale ale

• Mauldons Suffolk Pride - 4.8% premium bitter

• Red Fox Wily Ol' Fox - 5.2% strong aromatic ale

Both lots were sent using myHermes as the courier and both parcels arrived safe & sound with no damage to the box or contents. I know this for a fact as Mitch used my box to return his selection in! The five bottles were sent using their 'between 2-5 kg' weight band so it cost just £5.86 to send them.

I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into these beers, especially the Crouch Vale stuff as I've heard a lot of good things about them!

World Cup Beer Sweepstake - Chile

I'm The Ormskirk Baron.

I like free beer.

The BeerTwitterSphere mentioned 'world cup'-themed free beer.

I like free beer.

I don't like football.

They said you don't need to know anything about football.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

The teams were picked expertly by random.

I got Chile.

Chile!

Chile :(

I visited wikipedia.

I visited ratebeer.

I googled every Chilean beer I found.

I found that none are sold in the UK.

I spoke to Source Deli.

They got some Cristal just for me

It was Cristal.

From Cuba.

I was ready to give up.

I though I would check ebay for a laugh

I found this!

I emailed the seller.

It was empty :(

I gave up.

I felt bad.

And then Chile were out.

I didn't feel so bad.

I went to the fridge.

I got a beer.

It was cold.

No wait...

It was CHILE!

Whitstable Raspberry Wheat

Whitstable Raspberry Wheat [baron rating 1/5] - 5.2% orange/red fruit beer,yeast & raspberry smell,sharp fruity taste & fruity finishBaron Orm

Note: Fruit beers and/or wheat beers are just not my thing at the moment, although I did share this with the Baroness & Chris and none of us liked it! Thinks it's an acquired taste...

Thanks to Mark Dredge for sending this along with 3 others as part of #beerswap!

National Trust (Westerham) Viceroy IPA

National Trust (Westerham) Viceroy IPA [baron rating 5/5] - 5% gold ale,orange hops smell,balanced malt & citrus hops taste, hoppy finishBaron Orm

Thanks to Mark Dredge for sending this along with 3 others as part of #beerswap!

Buy Westerham ales here

Gadds Black Pearl

Gadds Black Pearl [baron rating 4/5] - 6.2% black stout,berry fruit & burnt wood smell,smooth smoky sweet fruit taste & gentle sweet finishBaron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Buy Gadds ale here

Hopdaemon Skrimshander IPA

Hopdaemon Skrimshander IPA [baron rating 5/5] - 4.5% amber IPA, orange & spicy hops smell,spicy citrus bitter hops taste & hop bitter finishBaron Orm

A big thank you must go to Mark Dredge for sending this through as part of my #beerswap parcel, and also thanks to Pete Brissenden for brewing this wonderful IPA, I look forward to a chance one day to sample the rest of his ales! (I also love the artwork on the labels, check out the close-up)

Buy Hopdaemon ales here

My #beerswap beers have arrived!

Came back from town this morning (having picked up a Worthington's White Shield in Morrisons & some Goose Island IPA [baron rating 5/5] in Source Deli) to find a box waiting for me in the porch.

Perfectly delivered by myHermes, the well-packaged ales (using a myBrewerytap box) turned out to be from Mark Dredge (of Pencil & Spoon fame):

• Gadds Black Pearl - 6.2% Oyster Stout

• Hopdaemon Skimshander IPA - 4.5% IPA

• National Trust (Westerham) Viceroy IPA - 5% IPA

• Whitstable Raspberry Wheat - 5.2% Fruit Beer

This is a great selection, I've wanted to try the Viceroy IPA since Mark blogged about it and Pete Brissenden's ales have long been on my 'want to rate' list!

Expect some 'baron ratings' very soon for these excellent #beerswap ales...