Wentworth Oyster Stout

Wentworth Oyster Stout [baron rating 4/5] - 4.8% black ale,roasted malt & coffee smell,choc coffee liquorice taste, smoky bittersweet finish Baron Orm

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

Buy Wentworth ales here

Details of the AlesByMail Advent Calendar Christmas beer selection box

Back in October AlesByMail announced that they are doing an advent calendar mixed case of 24 select bottles to see you through the advent season. I spoke to Paul in more depth about the advent calendar when judging at SIBA North and he reviled something a little special.

Not only do you get 24 bottles of ale in a box, but the box is designed with little doors that you open one a day until Christmas - not just a normal box of ale but a proper advent calendar box of ale. Here's a shot of the 'work in progress' advent calendar box.

Doesn't that look cool? As a 'baron exclusive', here's the contents of the box (although I'm not sharing which beer is behind which door):

• Anchor Brewery Christmas 2009 5.5%

• Atlantic Apple Beer

• Beaumonts Alcoholic Ginger Beer 4%

• Breaconshire Cribyn 4.5%

• Brentwood Brewery Spooky Moon 3.8%

• Calvors Amber Lager 4.0%

• Compass Brewery Isis 4.9%

• Conway Clogwyn Gold 3.6%

• Cotleigh Red Nose Rein Beer 5.0%

• Exmoor Gold 5%

• Green Valley Cyder Dragon Tears 4.7% (cider)

• Hoggleys Solitice Stout 5.0%

• Hopdaemon, Green Daemon 5.0%

• Humpty Dumpty Christmas Crack

• Iceni It's a Grand Day, 4.5%

• Laverstoke Park Organic Real Ale 5.0%

• Moor Fusion 8%

• Orkney Northern Light 4.0%

• Pen-lon Chocolate Stout 4.5%

• RCH Ale Mary 6.0%

• Salopian Brewery Darwins Origin 4.3%

• Summerskills Brewery Turkeys delight 5.1%

• Teme Valley Whatever Next 5%

• Teignworthy Christmas Cracker 6.0%

It looks like a great selection of beers all the way from lagers, ciders & golden ales, to fruity spicy ones and even stouts. I can't think of a beer drinker who wouldn't want one of these to kick-off the Christmas season!

Buy the AlesByMail Advent Calendar here

Morrisons November ale & beer offers (8th - 28th November 2010)

It's November's new beer & ale offers time in Morrisons so I popped into the local Ormskirk branch today to check them out.

Here are the details:

• Adnams Broadside [baron rating 5/5]
  £1.50 instead of £1.75

• Badger Golden Champion [baron rating 3/5]
  £1.25 instead of £1.67

• Brains SA Gold [baron rating coming soon]
  £1.25 instead of £1.67

• Brains SA [baron rating 2/5]
  £1.25 instead of £1.67

• Brakspear Bitter [baron rating 5/5]
  £1 instead of £1.69

• Greene King Abbot Reserve [baron rating 3/5]
  £1.53 instead of £2.03

• Greene King Suffolk Springer
  £1.53 instead of £2.03

• Morland Old Crafty Hen [baron rating 4/5]
  £2 instead of 2.59

• Morland Old Speckled Hen [baron rating 4/5]
  £1.35 instead of £1.65

• Morrisons (Titanic) Green Hop Beer [baron rating 2/5]
  £1.50

• Ringwood Old Thumper [baron rating 2/5]
  £1.36 instead of £1.76

A long list of offers this month and most are pretty good, there's quite a deduction on the strong ales, I think my 'baron pick' is the Adnams Broadside, it's so rich & smooth - perfect for long cold nights at home!

Conwy Rampart

Conwy Rampart [baron rating 4/5] - 4.5% amber ale,caramel floral smell,frothy sweet fruity bitter taste,fruity slightly sweet finish Baron Orm

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

Buy Conwy ales here

Meantime London Pale Ale

Meantime London Pale Ale [baron rating 4/5] - 4.3% gold ale,marmalade smell, tangy fruity bittersweet taste,slightly tart lasting finish Baron Orm

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

Buy Meantime 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!

Willoughby Trust Gold

Willoughby Trust Gold [baron rating 3/5] - 3.8% pale gold ale,zesty citrus smell,light sulphurous grapefruit taste,dry sulphurous finish Baron Orm

Tesco Finest Traditional Porter

Tesco Finest Traditional Porter [baron rating 5/5] - 6% black ale,roasted fruit smell,smooth sweet roasted taste,long roasted bitter finish Baron Orm

Note: This is basically Harviestoun Old Engine Oil [baron rating 5/5] with a Tesco Finest label on it.

Moorhouse's Blond Witch

Moorhouse's Blond Witch [baron rating 3/5] - 4.5% golden ale,slight floral aroma,light sweet floral hoppy taste,dry slightly sweet finish Baron Orm

Marble Vuur & Vlam

Marble Vuur & Vlam [baron rating 5/5] - 7.2% copper ale,tropical piney smell,sweet resiny citrus taste,sweet hoppy bittersweet finish Baron Orm

Buy Marble ales here

Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter

Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter [baron rating 5/5] - 8.7% black ale,sweet roasted smell,thick dark roasted taste,sweet hoppy roasted finish Baron Orm

Buy Flying Dog ales here and here

Adnams Broadside

Adnams Broadside [baron rating 5/5] - 6.3% ruby ale,boozy fruity smell,smooth full bodied roasted dried fruit taste,burnt 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

Buy Adnams ales here

Tesco Finest American Double IPA - 3 for £4 in Tesco (3rd - 30th Nov 2010)

Tesco has 330ml bottles of Tesco Finest American Double IPA [baron rating 5/5] on offer: 3 for £4 until 30th Nov.It's BrewDog Hardcore IPA!

Tesco Finest American Double IPA

Tesco Finest American Double IPA [baron rating 5/5] - 9.2% amber ale,piney tropical smell,boozy sweet spicy/pine taste,extreme bitter finish Baron Orm

Note: This is basically BrewDog Hardcore IPA [baron rating coming soon] with a Tesco Finest label on it.

Great Marble beers selection in Ormskirk's Source Deli

Popped into Source Deli in Ormskirk today to collect the Marble ales that Paul had put to one side for me from his recent order with Marble Brewery. This is what I picked up:

Marble Brewery

• Chocolate Marble - 5.5% stout(ish) and rich

• Dobber [baron rating 5/5] - 5.9% big heady IPA

• Vuur & Vlam - 7.2% American-style IPA

I'm really looking forward to 'baron rating' the two I've not tried yet, those bottles of Vuur & Vlam look amazing!

Other exciting news: Marble are now (finally) on Twitter, follow @MarbleBrewers for the latest news!

Itchen Valley Wat Tyler

Itchen Valley Wat Tyler [baron rating 3/5] - 5% dark amber ale,toffee smell,slightly floral juicy malt taste,malty 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

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

Buy Itchen Valley ales here