Knops California Common

Not bottle conditioned

Knops California Common [baron rating 4/5] - 4.6% amber ale,biscuity sultana smell,spicy biscuity caramel taste,muted spicy bitter finish Baron Orm

Mohawk Extra IPA

Not bottle conditioned

Mohawk Extra IPA [baron rating 4/5] - 7.5% copper ale,sweet fleshy fruits resinous smell,fruity oily piney taste,long resinous bitter finish Baron Orm

Thank you to the Night of International Beers for handing this over for a baron rating!

BrewDog Dogma

New version. Not bottle conditioned

BrewDog Dogma [baron rating 4/5] - 7.4% black ale,woodsmoke sweet BBQ ribs smell,smooth sweet roasted balanced taste,sweet honey choc finish Baron Orm

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

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Buy BrewDog ales direct

Bretagne Celtika 8.8

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Bretagne Celtika 8.8 [baron rating 2/5] - 8.8% amber ale,Haribo sweets basil smell,herbal sweetish toffee taste,harsh sticky herbal finish Baron Orm

Bought from Carrefour near Bénodet whilst camping at the excellent Camping du Letty in Bénodet, Brittany, France.

Wolferstetter Edel Hell

Not bottle conditioned

Wolferstetter Edel Hell [baron rating 2/5] - 4.9% gold lager,vegetal grassy herbal smell,biscuity light honey taste,oily bittersweet finishBaron Orm

Black Sheep Progress

Not bottle conditioned

Black Sheep Progress [baron rating 4/5] - 10% dark amber ale,toffee caramel marzipan smell,rich spicy fiery treacle taste,very short finish Baron Orm

Listen to what we all (see the note below) have to say about it

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Thank you to Paul (@SourceDeliPaul) for bringing this along for a baron rating!

Note : This was the biggest baron rating session yet, with six of us sampling and saying what we thought whilst sat in the lovely Source Deli in Ormskirk. From left to right in the photo:

• Paul from Source Deli - @SourceDeliPaul
• Chris (my regular audio reviewer) - @Christopher_R
• Steven - @Judging_Jester
• Leigh - @villaBONE
• Chris (Leigh's San Diego-based work collegue) - @beerquester

The baron rating crew (minus the baron who was taking the photo)

Paul with Black Sheep Progress

Blueball Zeppelin

Not bottle conditioned

Blueball Zeppelin [baron rating 5/5] - 5.5% copper ale,bubblegum banana cloves smell,full-bodied classic wheat beer taste,dry herbal finish Baron Orm

Thank you to Alex (@blueballbrewery) from Blueball Brewery for handing them over for a baron rating!

Buy Blueball ales direct and from Kash Bar

Great Newsome Pricky Back Otchan

Not bottle conditioned

Great Newsome Pricky Back Otchan [baron rating 4/5] - 4.2% amber ale,floral toffee smell,toffee citrus bittersweet taste,tangy fruit finish Baron Orm

Thank you to Matthew (@greatnewsome) from Great Newsome Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Great Newsome ales direct

AleSmith Horny Devil

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

AleSmith Horny Devil [baron rating 3/5] - 11% gold ale,apricot mild spicy smell,juicy sweet apricot slight spicy taste,juicy spicy finish Baron Orm

Listen to what we all (see the note below) have to say about it

Subscribe in iTunes

Note : This was the biggest baron rating session yet, with six of us sampling and saying what we thought whilst sat in the lovely Source Deli in Ormskirk. From left to right in the photo:

• Paul from Source Deli - @SourceDeliPaul
• Chris (my regular audio reviewer) - @Christopher_R
• Steven - @Judging_Jester
• Leigh - @villaBONE
• Chris (Leigh's San Diego-based work collegue) - @beerquester

The baron rating crew (minus the baron who was taking the photo)

The Baron with AleSmith Horny Devil

Nethergate Umbel Ale

Not bottle conditioned

Nethergate Umbel Ale [baron rating 2/5] - 3.8% amber ale,herbal orange oil smell,rounded dried fruit taste,metallic herbal peppery finish Baron Orm

Looking forward to baron rating Windsor & Eton Canberra

The final Jubilee beer arrived from Windsor & Eton Brewery this week, called "Canberra":

"On the day of the Coronation, BBC footage was flown non-stop to Canada on a Canberra jet plane. This was the first time that Canadians had been able to watch an event on the same day that it had occurred. Long before the days of satellite or digital, this historic first was a major triumph."

The other two Jubilee beers were Treetops [baron rating 5/5] and Kohinoor [baron rating 4/5].

Windsor & Eton Brewery

• Canberra - 4% rich chestnut coloured ale with a blend of 5 malts,whole leaf hops from Australia & New Zealand and just a touch of Canadian maple syrup

Look out for a baron rating for this Windsor & Eton Brewery beer soon, and a big thank you to Paddy (@WindsorEtonBrew) for sending this through to me!

Buy Windsor & Eton ales direct

The Bruery Black Tuesday 2011

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

The Bruery Black Tuesday 2011 [baron rating 5/5] - 18.3% black ale,vanilla choc smell,boozy velvety coffee choc taste,warming smooth finish Baron Orm

Listen to what we all (see the note below) have to say about it

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Chris (@beerquester) for bringing this along for a baron rating!

Note : This was the biggest baron rating session yet, with six of us sampling and saying what we thought whilst sat in the lovely Source Deli in Ormskirk. From left to right in the photo:

• Paul from Source Deli - @SourceDeliPaul
• Chris (my regular audio reviewer) - @Christopher_R
• Steven - @Judging_Jester
• Leigh - @villaBONE
• Chris (Leigh's San Diego-based work collegue) - @beerquester

The baron rating crew (minus the baron who was taking the photo)

Chris with The Bruery Black Tuesday 2011

Looking forward to baron rating Dark Star's 'hand crafted' ales

Here we have a lovely line-up of bottles that arrived from Dark Star this week, this is their 'hand crafted' range (excluding the rather exciting but not-quite-ready-yet imperial stout):

Great looking bottles from a superb brewery

Dark Star Brewing Co.

• Belgian IPA - 7.2% exotic partnership between Belgian yeast and US hops, this is our tribute to the great Chouffe brewery
• Green Hop - 6.5% 'big' IPA created with Simcoe hops and then made even bigger by using fresh green hops infused into the beer as it conditions
• Six Hop [baron rating 5/5] - 6.5% ale,six different varieties of hops,used during six stages of the brewing process, by six brewers... it's a beast of a beer

I also received a lovely branded waterbottle with the words "beer fuelled". I tried it out on my lunchtime run this week and found the slim part of the bottle to be a perfect handhold and the rubber mouthpiece to be a saviour when you try to take a sip of water whilst running and bash the damn thing into your teeth!

Look out for baron ratings for these Dark Star Brewing Co. beers soon, and a big thank you to James (@darkstarbrewco) for sending them through to me!

Buy Dark Star ales direct or from Ales By Mail

Looking forward to baron rating Burscough Brewing Company ales

The Hop Vine pub in Burscough is an excellent pub -good food, nice atmosphere and an excellent selection of cask ales. The landlord of the pub, Mike McCombe some time back decided that he also wanted to have his own brewery out the back of the pub and so back in 2010 he set up Burscough Brewing Company with Andy Brocken.

They've been doing really well, building up a solid range of cask ales and recently they have started to bottle some of them as well. I popped into The Hop Vine this week to see Mike and to collect a few samples for the baron rating treatment:

Burscough Brewing Company

• Duke of Lancaster's Ale - 4% traditional full flavoured, amber coloured best bitter. Brewed using two varieties of British hops to produce a spicy flavour and floral aroma
• Mere Blonde - 4% pale full flavoured golden ale with a light bitterness and a prominent citrus hop aroma complimented by a full hop flavour which gives way to a massive almost grapefruit-like finish
• Mug Billy - 4.5% traditional best bitter, light amber in colour. Easy drinking with a noticeable bitterness
• Priory Gold - 3.8% golden session ale with a light body and moderate bitterness. The initial sweet, hoppy finish gives way to a fragrant citrus aroma with hints of pine and lemon

Look out for baron ratings for these Burscough Brewing Company beers soon, and a big thank you to Mike McCombe (@mikehopvine) for handing them over to me!

Buy Burscough ales from Source Deli

Oakham Hawse Buckler

Not bottle conditioned

Oakham Hawse Buckler [baron rating 4/5] - 5.6% black ale,roasted burnt fruit cake smell,peppery burnt coffee taste,burnt bitter finish Baron Orm

Blueball Spank

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Blueball Spank [baron rating 5/5] - 6% amber ale,citrus resin smell,sweet tropical mandarin bitter taste,pithy fruity tobacco bitter finish Baron Orm

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

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Not bottle conditioned

This is a special side-by-side review of Blueball Spank as I was given two different bottles of the same beer, one bottle conditioned and the other filtered & carbonated.

The baron rating score above is for the bottle conditioned one (we gave the filtered one 3/5) - why not listen to the audio review above to see what we thought of them side-by-side?

They look the same, but do they taste the same?

Thank you to Alex (@blueballbrewery) from Blueball Brewery for handing them over for a baron rating!

Buy Blueball ales direct and from Kash Bar