Looking forward to 'baron rating' Kernel ales very soon!

As I mentioned on my previous post about receiving a box of AlesByMail's latest website additions, there were some bottles in there that Paul got me for my birthday.

These were from the Kernel Brewery, a brewery I've heard so much great talk about on twitter and numerous blogs, so I was very excited when I opened up the box and saw such a great selection of Kernel's ales (see the unboxing video here).

Kernel Brewery

• Black IPA - 6.8% big hoppy aroma over easy drinking dark body
• Export Stout - 7.8% rich dried fruit with hints of rum and raisin, herbal hop bitterness on top of huge lingering espresso
• Pale Ale (Bravo/Apollo) - 5.2% "sweet piney orange with a dash of grapefruit." (RateBeer)
• Porter - 6.8% "roasty, dry, chocolatey and just a hint of roasted fruit sharpness - smooth, very drinkable" (Mark Dredge)
• S.C.C.A.NS IPA- 7.5% hopped with Apollo, Simcoe, Columbus, Chinook and Nelson Sauvin for a good hit of fruit over a refined malt body

Look out for 'baron ratings' for these  @KernelBrewery beers soon, and a big thank you to Paul from AlesByMail for sending these through to me!

BrewDog Nanny State

BrewDog Nanny State [baron rating 1/5] - 0.5% dark amber ale,resinous hoppy smell,unsweetened pine floorboards taste,bitter resin 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 BrewDog for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy BrewDog ales here or here

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

Paul from AlesByMail mentioned a week or so ago that he was collecting together some of the newer stock on his AlesByMail website to send through for Baron Ratings. Well I knew the beers had arrived as I saw the courier struggling to carry the box down the drive on Thursday.

Paul mentioned that there was some stuff that he doesn't stock but bought for me as he knew it was my birthday soon (I'll cover these rather special birthday beers in a separate post).

Watch Chris & I unbox the latest AlesByMail beers:


Video recorded on Chris's excellent new camera, the Panasonic LX5

Here are the details of the breweries and beers in the box:

Green Jack Brewery

• Baltic Trader - 10.5% export stout
• Orange Wheat Beer - 4.2% citrus & marmalade flavours
• Ripper - 8.5% sweet & fruity barley wine
• Trawlerboys Best Bitter - 4.6% dark copper-coloured bitter

Hopshackle Brewery

• Extra Special Bitter - 4.8% dark amber beer, malty-fruit,caramel & bitter hops
• Hop and Spicey - 5% dark brown beer,fruit cake with a long complex spicy finish

Ilkley Brewery

• Ilkley Gold - 3.9% light refreshing golden ale
• Lotus IPA - 5.6% strong true India Pale Ale
• Mary Jane - 3.5% crisp and pale with a citrus aroma

Kelham Island Brewery

• Easy Rider - 4.3% blonde full-bodied ale
• Pale Rider - 5.2% hop resins, piny citrus notes & sappy malt
• Pride Of Sheffield - 4% full flavoured amber bitter
• Riders On The Storm - 4.5% bitter hoppy pale ale

Ossett Brewery

• Excelsior - 5.2% pale & well hopped with citrus notes
• Treacle Stout - 5% rich & robust stout with coffee flavours
• Yorkshire Blonde - 4.5% pale gold ale,full-bodied & rounded

Pitfield's Brewery

• 1792 Imperial Stout - 9.3% dark, powerful, rich textured beer
• Eco Warrior - 4.5% light coloured,citrus, mild bitter flavour

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

Buy all these ales here

Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout

Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout [baron rating 5/5] - 4.5% black ale,choc smoky coffee smell,smooth creamy caramel taste,coconut cream 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 @BrisBeerFactory from Bristol Beer Factory for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Bristol Beer Factory ales here

Stringers IPA

Stringers IPA [baron rating 5/5] - 5.5% amber ale,sweet resinous citrus smell,sweet marmalade bitter taste,very bitter orange peel 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 Jon from Stringers Beer for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Stringers ales here

Odell Isolation Ale

Odell Isolation Ale [baron rating 3/5] - 6.1% dark amber ale,savoury herb smell,sweet medicinal syrupy taste,slight medicinal peppery 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 Richard from myBrewerytap for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Odell ales here

St Austell Clouded Yellow

St Austell Clouded Yellow [baron rating 2/5] - 4.8% cloudy gold ale,banana & cloves smell,sugary spicy herbal taste,medicinal clovey 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 @StAustellBrew from St Austell for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy St Austell ales here

Christmas Day was 'sponsored' by Shepherd Neame Christmas Ale

Shepherd Neame's Christmas Ale [baron rating 5/5] was our clear winner in the Christmas Beers with The Ormskirk Baron video special. Well thanks to the kind folks at Shepherd Neame our Christmas wish of drinking their Christmas Ale with our turkey dinner came true as Shepherd Neame very kindly sent some more bottles through for us to enjoy on Christmas Day.

I can honestly say that this beer worked very well with the 'turkey & all the trimmings' roast that we had, as well as the spicy fruitiness of the ale standing up well against the rich Christmas pudding.

It also worked perfectly as a beer to enjoy whilst open presents later that afternoon!

This beer is already on my shopping list for next Christmas, if you see a bottle of Shepherd Neame Christmas Ale, buy it and let me know what you think!

Buy Shepherd Neame ales here

Crouch Vale Willie Warmer

Crouch Vale Willie Warmer [baron rating 3/5] - 6.4% black ale,sweet blackberry smell,plummy very sweet taste,fruity 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

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

Buy Crouch Vale ales here

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Purbeck ales very soon!

Six bottles of Isle of Purbeck Brewery bottles arrived today in perfect condition and they look excellent. I was talking to @PurbeckBrewery before Christmas about their new season harvest ale (Harry's Harvest Pale Ale) and he kindly offered to send some to me. I've heard some good things about these beers from @TheBeerBunker so I'm looking forward to getting stuck in!

Isle of Purbeck Brewery

• Best Bitter - 3.6% classic draft bitter
• Fossil Fuel - 4.1% traditional best bitter
• Harry's Harvest Pale Ale - 5% 'new season hop' beer
• Purbeck IPA - 4.8% premium India Pale Ale style beer
• Solar Power - 4.3% lager-style ale
• Studland Bay Wrecked - 4.5% ale inspired by amber & Scottish ales

Look out for a 'baron rating' for these Isle of Purbeck beers soon, and a big thank you to Mike from @PurbeckBrewery for sending them through to me!

Fyne Highlander

Fyne Highlander [baron rating 4/5] - 4.8% amber ale,citrus tangerine aroma,balanced caramel bitter taste,bitter lacking sweetness 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 Elaine from Fyne Ales for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

This was also part of the winter 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 Fyne Ales here

Morrisons January ale & beer offers (3rd January - 23rd January 2011)

It's January's new beer & ale offers time in Morrisons (or rather it was last week) so I popped into the local Ormskirk branch today to check them out.

Here are the details:

• Marston's The Ashes
£1 (guest ale)

• Marston's Pedigree [baron rating 2/5]
£8 for an 8-bottle box

• Shepherd Neame Master Brew [baron rating 4/5]
£1 (guest ale)

I bought a bottle of the Master Brew as it's not a bad tipple at all,nothing to fancy and very "Shepherd Neame" but nice none the less. I didn't bother with Marston's The Ashes brew as it looked almost identical to their Victorious Ale [baron rating 1/5] which wasn't very nice at all!

RCH Ale Mary

RCH Ale Mary [baron rating 1/5] - 6% copper ale,sweet yeasty smell,cloves yeasty slight ginger taste,tart lemony finish (massive head!) 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 RCH ales here

Hook Norton Double Stout

Hook Norton Double Stout [baron rating 5/5] - 4.8% black ale,smoky choc smell,dark roasted choc & banana taste,slight sweet smoky 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' Thwaites Old Dan ale very soon!

Thwaites got in touch recently asking if I would like to try their 'work in progress' ale called 'Old Dan'. It's a 7.8% bottled conditioned chestnut rich ale brewed as a modern take on the Old Dan recipe. The label design is excellent made to look like aged paper with typewriter font as well as all sorts of brewing info.

It's very refreshing to see a reasonably large brewer like Thwaites trying (and sharing) their new ideas, another good example of this is their new Signature Range of seasonal beers for 2011. Great looking pumpclips, some pretty bold ABVs and some pretty interesting recipes.

Look out for a 'baron rating' for this Thwaites beer soon, and a big thank you to @Daniel_Thwaites for sending it through to me!

BrewDog Zeitgeist

BrewDog Zeitgeist [baron rating 4/5] - 4.9% black ale,smoky blackcurrant smell,bitter roasted slightly tart berries taste,smoky berry 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 BrewDog for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

This was also part of the winter 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 BrewDog ales here or here