Thornbridge Tzara

Not bottle conditioned

Thornbridge Tzara [baron rating 3/5] - 4.8% gold beer,clean cereal smell,refreshing creamy cereal taste,dry slight creamy finish Baron Orm

Buy Thornbridge ales from Holborn Ales

Thornbridge Twin Peaks

Not bottle conditioned

Thornbridge Twin Peaks [baron rating 4/5] - 5% gold ale,mild fruity smell,vanilla lemon bitter taste,zesty dry finish Baron Orm

Buy Thornbridge ales from Holborn Ales

Thornbridge Bear State

Not bottle conditioned

Thornbridge Bear State [baron rating 4/5] - 7% copper ale,piney peachy smell,piney resinous floral herbal bitter taste,spicy herbal finish Baron Orm

Buy Thornbridge ales from Holborn Ales

Thornbridge Cocoa

Not bottle conditioned

Thornbridge Cocoa [baron rating 5/5] - 6.8% black ale,cocoa smell,silky balanced chocolatey mild bitter taste,sweetish choc finishBaron Orm

Buy Thornbridge ales from Holborn Ales

Thornbridge Colorado Red

Not bottle conditioned

Thornbridge Colorado Red [baron rating 4/5] - 5.9% red ale,earthy brambles smell,sweet juicy berries bittersweet taste,juicy berry finish Baron Orm

Buy Thornbridge ales from Holborn Ales

Thornbridge Reverend & The Makers

Not bottle conditioned

Thornbridge Reverend & The Makers [baron rating 4/5] - 4.8% pale gold ale,wheaty smell,spicy floral bittersweet taste,bittersweet finish Baron Orm

Thank you to Chris France (@TheBeerHawk) from Beer Hawk for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Thornbridge ales from Beer Hawk

Thornbridge Halcyon

Not bottle conditioned

Thornbridge Halcyon [baron rating 5/5] - 7.4% gold ale,floral resin green hops smell,clean herbal peachy bitter taste,perfumed floral finish Baron Orm

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

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Chris France (@TheBeerHawk) from Beer Hawk for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Thornbridge ales from Beer Hawk

Looking forward to baron rating Beer Hawk ales

Beer mail order company Beer Hawk started up at the end of last year with the aim of 'only stocking the good stuff' - they have over two hundred different bottled beers as well as mixed cases and a beer club.

Chris France (joint director along with Mark Roberts) got in touch recently asking if there were any beers on their website that I'd like to try... let's just say I was like a kid in a sweet shop (or a bull in a china shop - you take your pick!). This is what they very kindly sent through for review:

• Anchor Old Foghorn - 9.4% barley wine style ale, the perfect balanced of malty sweetness, estery fruitiness and equisite hop character
• BrewDog Libertine Black Ale - 7.2% dark hop bomb combining the hop awesomeness of an IPA, the decadent and indulgent malt flavours of a stout with an insatiable drinkability
• BrewDog #MashTag - 7.4% crowd-sourced brown ale from start to finish
• Durhum Cloister - 4.5% thirst quenching pale golden, premium bitter. A unique blend of English, American and Czech hops give an aroma of citrus grapefruit with mild pepper and citrus orange notes throughout
• Durham Magus - 3.8% light bitter, simple pale malts provide a base for a complex blend of hops. Colour is very pale with lemon citrus and floral flavours, progressing to a spicy mouthfeel and a clean earthy bitterness in the finsh

• Flying Dog Horn Dog - 10.2% barley wine style ale (no further description on bottle) RateBeer says: "Big malty flavors, including licorice and chocolate, are balanced with a moderate hop profile. Brewed with copious amounts of prized malts and flaked oats, the Barley Wine is so strong that it has to be aged for several months before we can bottle it"
• Ilkley Joshua Jane - 3.7% rich nut-brown Yorkshire ale,smooth with hints of caramel rising to a lingering and pleasant bitterness BUT characterised by the use of hops sourced from the USA and New Zealand
• Nogne O Imperial Brown Ale - 7.5% unique ale due to the use of rich English malts and generous use of hops, particularly American varieties. Unfiltered and unpasteurised and it will age well
• Nogne O Imperial Stout - 9% very rich, creamy and completely black ale with flavours of coffee, chocolate, leather and dried fruits
• Rochefort 10 - 11.3% ? (no description on bottle) RateBeer says: "The top product from the Rochefort Trappist brewery. Dark color, full and very impressive taste. Strong plum, raisin, and black currant palate, with ascending notes of vinousness and other complexities"
• Rogue Dead Guy Ale - ? (no description on bottle) RateBeer says: "6.6% German-style Maibock made with Rogue’s proprietary "PacMan" ale yeast. It is deep honey in color with a malty aroma, rich hearty flavor and a well balanced finish. Dead Guy is created from Northwest Harrington, Klages, Maier Munich and Carastan malts, along with Perle and Saaz Hops"

• Schlenkerla Rauchbier Marzen - 5.1% rauchbier, selected barley is malted at the brewery and kilned over a fire of beechwood  logs. A dark, bottom fermented beer with an intense smoky aroma and flavour
• Schlenkerla Rauchbier Weizen - 5.2% unusual sibling of the classic Marzen. Only the barley malt is smoked over beechwood logs while the wheat malt remains unsmoked. The light smokiness is coupled with complex notes of banana and clove
• Sierra Nevada Bigfoot - barley wine style ale (no further description on bottle) RateBeer says: "boasts a dense, fruity bouquet; an extremely rich, intense, bittersweet palate; and a deep, reddish-brown color. This ale is superbly balanced between an almost overpowering maltiness and a wonderfully bittersweet hoppiness"
• Sierra Nevada Hoptimum -10.4% whole-cone imperial IPA, the biggest whole-cone IPA we have ever produced - a 100 IBU, whole-cone hurricane of flavour. Aggressively hopped, dry-hopped AND torpedoed, Hoptimum delivers ultra-intense flavours to hop fanatics everywhere
• Thornbridge Halcyon -7.4% intensely flavoured imperial IPA, heavily hopped giving tropical fruit, mango and summer berry characteristics with a touch of caramel and biscuit sweetness. Perfumed hops in the mouth balanced with a warming, bitter finish
• Thornbridge Reverend & The Makers - 4.8% summer ale, brewed in collaboration with Ed Cosens, a classic example of its style; pale golden colour, light-bodied and easy drinking. The ale's highly fragrant floral and spicy flavours are the result of the generous use of the best hops from Australia, USA and England including Cascade, Amarillo, Galaxy and Fuggles

What an awesome selection, I'm finding it hard not to just dive in and start opening them! (must wait for Chris, must wait for Chris...).

I really liked the 'welcome sheet' that arrived at the top of the box (the first thing that you see when opening the box). A nicely branded 'thank you' on one side and then pouring and tasting tips on the other, really like the different pouring tips for the different beer styles - a really nice touch.

Look out for 'baron ratings' of these beers soon, and a big thank you to Chris France (@TheBeerHawk) from Beer Hawk for sending these through to me!

Buy all these beers from Beer Hawk and get 10% off if you use my discount code "BARON" at checkout!

Thornbridge Chiron

Not bottle conditioned

Thornbridge Chiron [baron rating 5/5] - 5% gold ale,citrus fresh hops smell,spicy clean orange bitter taste,bitter peppery spicy finish Baron Orm

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

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Andrew (@TheAleRoom) from The Ale Room for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Thornbridge ales from The Ale Room

Thornbridge Raven

Not bottle conditioned

Thornbridge Raven [baron rating 5/5] - 6.6% dark ruby ale,fresh hop roasted smell,roasted bitter choc orange piney taste,coffee choc finish Baron Orm

Thank you to Andrew (@TheAleRoom) from The Ale Room for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Thornbridge ales from The Ale Room

Looking forward to baron rating The Ale Room ales

Buying beer online seems to be going from strength to strength at the moment - what better way to get a selection of ales from micro-breweries all over the UK than sat in front of your computer with a beer in hand!  I was contacted recently by a relatively new online beer retailer The Ale Room, who were offering to send me a few samples of their range for review.

They aim to offer both traditional mainstream ales as well as more experimental and innovate beers, their website selection certainly backs this up with a range from Morland Old Speckled Hen to Oakham Green Devil IPA!

Andrew (the owner) had the following to say about why he decided to enter the online beer market:

I launched the website in March this year and it has grown month-on-month ever since. I have a background in digital (and print) media as I worked in the advertising department of a large newspaper firm in London for almost a decade. Tired of the rat race, I knew that I wanted to have a crack at being a business owner but also wanted to start a company where I had a genuine interest and passion in what I was selling (ie.not just doing it for the money). I've always liked good beer so I used this passion and the knowledge I'd picked up working on digital projects for the paper to put together The Ale Room.

Here are the beers that he sent through for review (all of which are available from The Ale Room):

A mighty fine line-up

• Buxton Moor Top - 3.6% pale ale,crammed with armfuls of American Chinook hops, this beer oozes citrus flavour & aroma. It has a lovely sweetness balanced with a refreshing grapefruit bitterness
• Oakham Green Devil IPA - 6% IPA, it's amazing hop harvest aroma is bursting with passion fruit, pineapple & mango developing into a refreshing citrus bitterness and a crisp, dry aftertaste
• Sadlers Hop Bomb - 5% grapefruit. apricot jam. lemon sorbet. blood orange. gooseberry. peach. mango. passion fruit. pineapple. grapes. lime zest. lychees. melon. papaya.
• Thornbridge Chiron - 5% American Pale, golden in colour,the aroma is subtle but spicy with citrus notes and biscuity malt. A beautifully balanced and wonderfully refreshing beer
• Thornbridge Raven - 6,6% Black IPA, pours dark with a beige head. Aromas are of intense pine hops and sweet roasted malt. Flavours are a complex combination of bitter chocolate with pineapple & orange preceding a long bitter finish

Look out for baron ratings for these The Ale Room beers soon, and a big thank you to Andrew (@TheAleRoom) for sending them through to me! 

Buy these ales from The Ale Room

Thornbridge Wild Swan

Thornbridge Wild Swan [baron rating 5/5] - 3.5% pale gold ale,tropical smell,creamy gentle lemon taste,light sweet then herbal 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 Richard from myBrewerytap for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Thornbridge ales here

Thornbridge Italia

Thornbridge Italia [baron rating 3/5] - 4.7% pale gold lager,grassy faint lemon smell,delicate soft lemon grassy taste,medicinal mint finish Baron Orm

Note: Chris gave it a 4/5 - listen to the audio to find out why I didn't

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 Thornbridge ales here

Thornbridge Dark Star Coalition Old Ale

Thornbridge Dark Star Coalition Old Ale [baron rating 4/5] - 7% copper ale,apricot honey smell,soft delicate taste,long honey lozenge finish Baron Orm

Note: You HAVE to listen to the audio to get a true sense of what this beer is about,140 characters is far too few to describe this complex ale!

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: I'd like to thank @BGRTRob from HopZine for coming over to Baron Towers to help Chris & I rate a whole loads of stouts, porters and collaboration brews, his expertise added loads to the reviews and we had a thoroughly excellent evening!

Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Thank you to James from Dark Star for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Dark Star ales here or here
Buy Thornbridge ales here or here

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Dark Star collaboration ales very soon!

Dark Star Brewing Co. are on of those breweries who are just so friendly it makes you want to add them to your Christmas card list!

I contacted James from Dark Star months ago to request some samples. Then they pulled out all the stops at Christmas and let me do my Baron on Tour: Dark Star.

This week they excelled themselves again by sending through two very special bottles of ale:

Dark Star's collaboration with Kernel

• Imperial Marzen - 9.1% ? RateBeer knows best

Dark Star's collaboration & Thornbridge

• Coalition Old Ale - 7% hazy orange ale,sandlewood & honey aroma,soft honey & resin with monthcoating bitterness

They also sent through a very smart-looking navy polo shirt with the Dark Star funky logo on the breast. Shame they sent a Large as I'm more of a Medium kind of guy but I'm sure Chris will be very pleased with the new addition to his wardrobe! :)


Look out for 'baron ratings' of these Dark Star beers soon, and a big thank you to James from Dark Star for sending these through to me!

Buy Dark Star ales here and here

Looking forward to 'baron rating' these myBrewerytap ales very soon!

Richard from myBrewerytap offered to send 'some samples' through the other week, little did I know that a full myBrewerytap box would arrive, thank you so much Richard you have been more than great to the baron!:

Watch Chris & I unbox the latest myBrewerytap beers:



The box contained the following amazing ales:

Anchor Brewing Co.

• Liberty Ale - 5.9% distinct bouquet & uncommonly delicate, entirely natural carbonation
• Anchor Bock Beer - 5.5% rich & flavourful

D.Carnegie & Co.

• Porter - 5.5% ? BeerAdvocate knows best

Flying Dog Brewery

• Horn Dog - 10.2% barley wine style ale

Goose Island Beer Co.

• Matilda - 7% Belgian style ale
  
• Pere Jacques - 8% Belgian style ale

Mallinsons Brewing Company

• Chocolate Stout - 4.2% deep dark colour with a dark cream head,dark chocolate, fruit & roast malt aroma and taste,slightly dry finish
• Dart (On the Buses No. 6) - 4.2% straw coloured with slightly spicy citrus nose.bitter citrus taste with a long finish
• Hidden Malt - 5.3% very pale straw ale with a fresh dry hop nose of Pacific Jade.Fresh fruity citrus taste followed by bitter slightly dry finish

Mikkeller

• Green Gold - 7% ? - Hopzine knows best as well as Beersay
• Hoppy Easter - 6.6% ? Beersay knows best

Oakham Ales

• Bishops Farewell - 5% elaborate fruity hop notes,grainy background & dry finish
• Inferno - 4.4% light igniting ale with complex fruits and a dry fruity finish

Thornbridge Brewery

• Italia - 4.7% pilsner, herb & lemon zest on the nose,soft & creamy malty notes with moderately intense hops taste,herbal minty firm bitter finish
• Wild Swan - 3.5% white gold pale ale, aroma & taste of light bitter lemon,hints of herb spicyness & long hoppy finish

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

Buy all these ales here

Goodbye Thornbridge's Kelly Ryan

Goodbye Kelly Ryan
Thornbridge Head Brewer
Sometime previous til November 2010

You are an inspiration to the UK brewing scene,
you brought Nelson Sauvin to our shores,
and now you are buggering off...

...that gets a [baron rating 0/5]



Goodbye and all the best mate!

myBrewerytap's autumn selection of the '52 week beer club'

Chris & I have been a member of myBrewerytap's 52 week beer club since December and our 4th quarter's pack arrived a this week. It arrived in perfect condition as always.

This pack is a bit of a special one as it's the end of mybrewerytap's first year of the club so Richard has pulled out all the stops to make sure it's a cracking pack. Chris & I have been very fortunate to sample some of the beers in this pack over the past year and there are some real winners in here.

Here are the details:

• BrewDog Punk IPA [baron rating 5/5]

• Crouch Vale Brewers Gold

• Felinfoel Double Dragon

• Hawkshead Lakeland Gold [baron rating 5/5]

• Hogs Back TEA

• Inveralmond Ossian

• Mallinsons Station Best Bitter

• Marble Manchester Bitter [baron rating 5/5]

• Meantime Chocolate

• RCH Ale Mary

• Saltaire Cascade Pale Ale [baron rating 5/5]

• Thornbridge Jaipur [baron rating 5/5]

• Williams Bros Good Times [baron rating 5/5]

As you can see from the above, there are some absolute crackers in this pack!

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

Thornbridge Saint Petersburg

Thornbridge Saint Petersburg [baron rating 4/5] - 7.7% black stout,hoppy fruit smoky smell,sweet roasted bitter taste & sweet bitter finish Baron Orm,

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Buy Thornbridge ales here

Thornbridge Halcyon (2009)

Thornbridge Halcyon (2009) [baron rating 5/5] - 7.7% rich gold IPA, orange/lycees smell,boozy sweet malt & fresh hop taste,hop bitter finish

It's also one of the most beautiful beer labels I've seen:

Buy Thornbridge ales here