Felinfoel Double Dragon

Felinfoel Double Dragon [baron rating 3/5] - 4.2% dark amber ale,candied apple smell,balanced standard bitter taste,metallic zingy finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

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This was from the autumn pack of the superb '52 week beer club' by myBrewerytap.

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

Buy Felinfoel ales here

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Humpty Dumpty Christmas Crack very soon!

The final Christmas-themed ale showed up yesterday from those kind people at the Humpty Dumpty Brewery, a bottle of Christmas Crack:

Humpty Dumpty Brewery

• Christmas Crack - 7% strong brown ale with an American hop profile

Look out for the 'baron rating' for this Humpty Dumpty beer soon, and a big thank you to Lesley from @hdbrewery for sending this through to me!

Buy Humpty Dumpty ales here

St Austell Tribute

St Austell Tribute [baron rating 4/5] - 4.2% amber ale,orange zest smell,caramel sweet orange strong bitter taste,short bitter citrus finishBaron 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 @StAustellBrew from St Austell for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy St Austell ales here

Morrisons December ale & beer offers (29th November 2010 - 2nd January 2011)

It's December'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:

• 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

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

• Greene King Suffolk Springer
  £1.53 instead of £2.03

• Jennings Cumberland Ale [baron rating 3/5]
  £1.29 instead of £1.69

• Jennings Snecklifter [baron rating 3/5]
  £1.23 instead of £1.58

• Wychwood King Goblin [baron rating 2/5]
  £1.89 instead of £2.19

Looks like Morrisons have picked some of the stronger richer more wintery ales to be on offer this time round. I'm a fan of a pint of Old Speckled Hen with chicken or turkey roast dinners I find the spiciness of the beer goes well with the white meat.

As the Suffolk Springer is the only one I've not 'baron rated' I would have bought one, but it was all gone (or rather they'd had no stock of it for around a month already...)

Williams Bros Good Times

Williams Bros Good Times [baron rating 5/5] - 5% gold ale,floral citrus smell,sweet elderflower citrus bitter taste,dry sweet floral finishBaron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

The labels on most of the Williams Bros. ales are really funky, with good use of typography & foil to create eye-catching bottles, click the image for a close-up of the Good Times label



This was from the autumn pack of the superb '52 week beer club' by myBrewerytap.

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

Buy Williams Bros ales here

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Shepherd Neame ales very soon!

Beer god Zak Avery tweeted recently about trying Shepherd Neame's Christmas Ale and saying that it was really good. As I'm doing a Christmas-themed ales 'baron rating' special I thought it best to get in touch with Sheperd Neame and see if they wanted to send a sample bottle though. Well they excelled themselves as not only was there a bottle of the Christmas Ale in the box, there were five other bottles from their range:

Shepherd Neame Brewery

• 1698 - 6.5% thrice-hopped generously malty ale

• Bishops Finger - 5.4% Kentish strong ale

• Christmas Ale - 7% winter fruits, festive spicy hops

• Master Brew - 4% amber-russet ale, pungent Kentish hops & crystal malts

• Spitfire - 4.5% The Bottle of Britain

• Whitstable Bay - 4.5% clean refreshing organic ale

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

Buy Shepherd Neame ales here 

The Ormskirk Baron presents Marble Beers

Come down for an evening of beer at Source Deli on Saturday 29th January. Join The Ormskirk Baron and @Christopher_R for a beer-tasting night of one of our favourite UK breweries - Manchester's Marble Brewery

Come and try Marble's regular bottled line-up (half a bottle of each):

• Dobber 
• Chocolate Marble
• Lagonda IPA
• Ginger 6%
• Manchester Bitter

Photo by Pete Favelle

You'll get to try a sample of their 'Special (2009)' - a 10.7% barley wine, plus once you've tried all five pick a bottle of your favourite to enjoy in store or alternatively to take home.  Bar snacks 'Source Deli style' will be provided by Paul & Matt of Source Deli.

£17.50 per person - get your tickets from Source Deli

Doors open at 8pm on Saturday 29th January

There are only 25 0 places available so if you are interested please get yourself down to Source Deli ASAP!

Update 24/01: I may have a spare ticket for sale if anyone is desperate,please email/tweet or leave a comment below...

Hook Norton Flagship

Hook Norton Flagship [baron rating 5/5] - 5.5% amber ale,spicy smell,full-bodied tangy spicy marmalade taste, lasting sugary spicy 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 Hook Norton for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Hook Norton ales here

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Fyne Ales very soon!

I put a call out recently for some Christmas-themed ales (including this video) and Fyne Ales responded with not only a sample or two of their Holly Daze but also a load more bottles of their excellent looking range:

I love the design of the Fyne Ales range, each beer has it's own colour theme, clear information about ABV, simple but useful description and nice gold leaf detail to make them stand out on the shelf.

Fyne Ales Brewery

• Highlander - 4.8% fine strong traditional ale

• Holly Daze - 5% dark amber ale

• Maverick - 4.2% dark robust bitter ale

• Piper's Gold - 3.8% bitter golden pale ale

• Vital Spark - 4.4% very dark rich ale

Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Fyne Ales beers soon, and a big thank you to Elaine from @FyneAles for sending these through to me!

Buy Fyne Ales here

Wold Top Mars Magic

Wold Top Mars Magic [baron rating 3/5] - 4.6% dark amber ale,caramel chocolate roasted smell,caramel & berries taste,slight burnt finish Baron Orm

Thank you to Wold Top for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Wold Top ales here

Hardknott Dark Energy

Hardknott Dark Energy [baron rating 4/5] - 4.9% black ale,dark berries & roasted smell,smooth fruity toasted malt taste,juicy fruity 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 Dave and Ann from Hardknott for handing this over for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Hardknott ales here and here

Mallinsons Station

Mallinsons Station [baron rating 5/5] - 4.2% pale gold ale,citrus grapefruit smell,balanced sweet grapefruit taste,dry bittersweet 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

This was from the autumn pack of the superb '52 week beer club' by myBrewerytap.

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

Buy Mallinsons ales here

Christmas Beers with The Ormskirk Baron (teaser)

We are going to do a 'Christmas Beers' audio special at the beginning of December, running though a range of xmas-themed ales giving them 'baron ratings'.

As a warm-up we thought we would do a little video detailing some of the beers in the line-up, please let us know what you thought of the video, we had a lot of fun doing it!

Wold Top Summer Holiday

Wold Top Summer Holiday [baron rating 3/5] - 5.5% dark amber ale,light roasted malt smell,sweet fruity slight choc taste,malty fruity finish Baron Orm

I don't 'get' the name on this one, to me it's more of an Autumn ale, not one I would be drink on my summer holiday! Wold Top care to explain?

Thank you to Wold Top for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Wold Top ales here

Keely Chey Crazy Eyes

Keely Chey Crazy Eyes [baron rating 3/5] - 4.5% copper ale,yeasty tangy citrus smell,caramel bittersweet taste, peardrop bitter finish Baron Orm

St Austell HSD

St Austell HSD [baron rating 4/5] - 5% amber ale,balanced fruity toffee smell,toffee malty taste, fruity bitter finish Baron Orm

Thank you to StAustellBrew from St Austell for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy St Austell ales here