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:
  • Greene King Suffolk Springer
    £1.53 instead of £2.03

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 finish
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):
    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

    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

    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


    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

    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
    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

    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

    St Austell HSD

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


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

    Buy St Austell ales here

    Atlantic Fistral

    Atlantic Fistral [baron rating 1/5] - 5.2% completely flat gold ale,slight fruity spicy aroma,citrus mild tangy taste,dry tangy finish

    I've not been overly impressed with the four Atlantic beers that I've 'baron rating' - their bottle-conditioning seems very hit & miss and most of the time results in a cloudy but completely flat ale. If this is 'real ale' then I don't want it!


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

    Buy Atlantic ales here

    Marble Chocolate Marble

    Marble Chocolate Marble [baron rating 4/5] - 5.5% black ale,choc & blackberry smell,rich choc & fruity taste,long dark choc bitter finish

    Buy Marble ales here or here

    HopZine/PDTNC Stateside Torpedo

    HopZine/PDTNC Stateside Torpedo [baron rating 5/5] - 6.9% copper ale,piney sticky sweet smell,balanced bittersweet taste,bittersweet finish