The Ormskirk Baron

Looking forward to baron rating Ship In A Bottle ales

The Ship In A Bottle is a specialist beer shop in Merseyside selling a range of over 400 products (mostly beer). They've stores in Heswall, West Kirby as well as Whitechapel, Liverpool.

They have a range of own-label beers available all of which are brewed by Liverpool Organic Brewery. I've a lot of respect for Karl at Liverpool Organic so I'm really looking forward to trying these bottles that the Ship In A Bottle sent through for review:


Snazzy looking bottles

Ship In A Bottle

American Pale Ale - 3.9% light citrus flavoured pale ale,bursting with American cascade hops
Best Bitter - 4.1% traditional brown bitter,malty & spicy flavoured with British Challenger & Golden(sic?) hops
Honey Brown Ale - 4.5% mid-bronze ale brewed with wild flower honey

Look out for baron ratings for these Ship In A Bottle beers soon, and a big thank you to @ShipinabottleWK for sending them through to me!

Crate Lager

Not bottle conditioned

Crate Lager [baron rating 4/5] - 4.8% copper beer,floral grassy smell,balanced biscuity bittersweet taste,dry crisp finish

Thank you to Paul Kruzycki from Ales By Mail for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Crate ales from Ales By Mail

Harveys Porter

Not bottle conditioned

Harveys Porter [baron rating 5/5] - 4.8% dark brown ale,treacle coffee nutty smell,smooth balanced dark treacle taste,liquorice choc finish

Buy Harveys ales direct and from Quaff

Wincle Sir Philip

Not bottle conditioned

Wincle Sir Philip [baron rating 4/5] - 4.2% amber ale,caramel vanilla smell,balanced sultana caramel biscuity taste,prickly bitter finish

Note: The aroma from this beer took me back to my childhood and reminded me of Caramac - a sugary sweet caramel vanilla flavoured bar. Although the smell was fascinating and pleasing, I'm glad the sugary sweetness didn't carry through into the beer - the body is nicely balanced with only enough caramel sweetness to balance the bitterness.

Buy Wincle ales from Holborn Ales

Hobsons Twisted Spire

Not bottle conditioned

Hobsons Twisted Spire [baron rating 3/5] - 3.6% gold ale,honey floral mild herbal smell,creamy zingy lemon taste,dry mild citrus finish

Buy Hobsons ales from Holborn Ales

Looking forward to baron rating Elland ales

I was first introduced to Elland Brewery by The Ale Room who sent through a bottle of their 1872 Porter for review. We thought it was stunning and it put Elland on my must-rate-more list. I then attended the National Winter Ales Festival where it was judged the beer of the festival and I found the cask version just as amazing.

It came as a great surprise when Martin from Elland called me up yesterday to ask for me address, I had no idea how he even had my phone number! Not that I'm complaining as today three bottles of fine Elland beer arrived at Baron Towers:

Elland Brewery

1872 Porter [baron rating 5/5] - 6.5% rich, complex & dark porter from an original 1872 recipe, with an old port nose and coffee and bitter chocolate flavours on the palate. Bottle conditioned for a fresh flavour & natural effervescence
Amnesia - 5.8% golden coloured special pale ale, bursting with a citrus charged hop aroma and flavours... truely unforgettable!
Ushuaia - 4.6% golden coloured hoppy IPA style beer with a crisp citrus flavour and aroma. As refreshing and spectacular as the mountains of Ushuaia!

Look out for baron ratings for these Elland Brewery beers soon, and a big thank you to Martin for sending them through to me!

Looking forward to baron rating Bridestones ales

I've chatted with Bridestones Brewing on a number of occasions on Twitter and nearly met face-to-face at the National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester this year. That didn't happen as they got a sudden order to brew some more beer so that was a pretty decent excuse for a small brewery.

Anyway three solid looking bottles arrived from them today:

Strong bold branding

Bridestones Brewing

American Pale Ale - 5% premium American influenced golden beer with Chinook, Cascade and Willamette for that big hop taste
Tohunga - 6.3% premium gold beer, single hopped with New Zealand Kohatu hops which offer a tingly pine flavour with exotic fruit notes
Winter Warmer - 6%seasonal beer brewed using five different malts, honey, molasses, spices ginger and nutmeg to create a bitter sweet warming winter ale

Look out for 'baron ratings' of these beers soon, and a big thank you to Dan (@BridestonesBeer) from Bridestones Brewing for sending these through to me!