Looking forward to baron rating Best of British Beer's Christmas ales

Christmas comes round far too quickly doesn't it?

It feels like only yesterday that we were baron rating some Christmas ales sent from Best of British Beer, well here are this year's contenders:

• Backyard Bad Santa - 6.8%, dark & strong. Full of sweet malt character, toffee & liquorice. Chased along by a big hitting bitterness with blackberry,citrus & aniseed. The sort of beer to poke you in the eye and pinch your Christmas presents!
• Cheddar Festive Totty - 4.7% bottle conditioned porter with ruby port. Festive Totty is our award-winning Totty Pot porter enriched with ruby port to give a smoother, sweeter taste with hints of chocolate and fruit
• George Wright Reindeer's Revenge - 5.1% premium ale brewed using only the Citra hop, giving this ale a citrus character along side a tropical hint of mango. This beer boasts exciting aromas and flavours (sounds interesting but the label is awful)

• Monty's Ding Dong - 4.4% Christmas special. A Champagne style real ale which is light, crisp & refreshing with a dry finish (we reviewed this last year but the bottle conditioning was completely wrong)
• Quartz Cracker - 5% *no description on the bottle whatsoever*
• York Stocking Filler [baron rating 4/5] - 4.8% dark, rich full bodied ale,having a distinctive finish of roast malt and chocolate. The addition of seasonal spices helps to add a hint of spice on the palete giving us a robust and satisfying beer (this is a good beer but the label should be banned!)

Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Best of British Beer beers soon, and a big thank you to @bob_beer for sending them through to me!

Buy these ales from Best of British Beer

Dark Star Green Hop

Not bottle conditioned

Dark Star Green Hop [baron rating 5/5] - 6.5% gold ale,sweet tangerine mango smell,chewy sweet mango resinous taste,long pithy bitter finish Baron Orm

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

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to James (@DarkStarBrewCo) from Dark Star Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Dark Star ales direct or from Ales By Mail

Looking forward to baron rating St Austell Big Job ale

I've a lot of respect for St Austell Brewery, I think their Proper Job is lovely, their Proper Black is excellent and Tribute is a lovely cask beer when served from a beach bar overlooking the sea in Cornwall.

They sent quite a shocking present to me this week: a 750ml bottle of 9% double IPA!

This just isn't the type of beer that I thought St Austell would want to produce, it's far too bold for them to do, something that should be done by a micro 'craft' brewery instead, or is it? ;)

What an amazing looking big bottle

St Austell Brewery

• Big Job - 9% double IPA, massively hopped Cornish ale. Big Job is a BIG beer, 9% alcohol, dry as a bone and jammed full of Cornish barley and as many Citra and Centennial hops as we could get our hands on. It's not subtle, but if you love the taste of big, powerful hops Big Job will be just the Job for you!

Look out for a 'baron rating' for this St Austell beer soon, and a big thank you to @StAustellBrew from St Austell Brewery for sending it through to me!

Buy St Austell ales here

St Bernardus Wit

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

St Bernardus Wit [baron rating 5/5] - 5.5% cloudy gold ale,lemon cloves smell,tart lemon banana clove spicy taste,dry sweet lemon finish Baron Orm

Buy St Bernardus ales from Ales By Mail

Elland 1872 Porter

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Elland 1872 Porter [baron rating 5/5] - 6.5% dark ruby ale,smoky sweet coffee smell,sweet dark bitter coffee taste,very bitter choc finishBaron Orm

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

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Andrew (@TheAleRoom) from The Ale Room for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Elland ales from The Ale Room

Achouffe Mc Chouffe

Not bottle conditioned but very fizzy

Achouffe Mc Chouffe [baron rating 4/5] - 8% ruby ale,brown sugar black & red berry smell ,fizzy sweet molasses taste,mild funky sour finishBaron Orm

Konig Ludwig Hell

Not bottle conditioned

Konig Ludwig Hell [baron rating 2/5] - 5.1% gold ale,grassy savoury smell,savoury slightly sweet lemon taste,cloying bittersweet finish Baron Orm

Liverpool Organic Shipwreck Extra IPA

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Liverpool Organic Shipwreck Extra IPA [baron rating 5/5] - 7.5% copper ale,resinous tropical smell,resinous fruity taste,long syrupy finish Baron Orm

Buy Liverpool Organic ales direct and from Source Deli

Looking forward to baron rating Shepherd Neame ales

Shepherd Neame beers are everywhere - available in every supermarket, nearly every off-license, and online.

Mostly they are beers delivered in clear bottles, are 4-5% ABV, and taste quite similar to each other for the most part, but a couple of bottles arrived at the weekend that have completely smashed what I've just said to bits!

Two beers in dark brown bottles with amazing vintage-styled labels and some pretty beefy ABVs and descriptions:

Amazing looking bottles, these scream BUY ME!

Shepherd Neame Brewery

• Double Stout - 5.2% classic double stout from a recipe discovered in the vaults of Britain's oldest brewery. velvety-smooth palate of dry, burnt flavours complemented by roast, cocoa & coffee notes. Black, creamy & delicious; it is a Shepherd Neame masterpiece
• India Pale Ale - 6.1% historic brew, a quintessentially strong & hoppy beer with a bold, stirring character. Pale in colour and generously bittered with locally grown Fuggles hops

Look out for baron ratings for these Shepherd Neame Brewery beers soon, and a big thank you to Moray (@ShepherdNeame) for sending them through for a baron rating!

Buy Shepherd Neame ales direct

Arcobrau Urfass

Not bottle conditioned

Arcobrau Urfass [baron rating 3/5] - 5.2% pale gold ale,bready sweet lemon smell,savoury bittersweet taste,grassy oily bitter taste Baron Orm

Titanic Iceberg

Not bottle conditioned

Titanic Iceberg [baron rating 4/5] - 4.1% gold ale,mild lemon smell,sweet citrus mild tangerine taste,slightly harsh dry lemon bitter finish Baron Orm

Discworld Hix's Darkside

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Discworld Hix's Darkside [baron rating 4/5] - 7% black ale,vineous berries smell,tangy chocolate berry taste,sweet fruity finish Baron Orm

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

Buy Discworld ales from Ales By Mail

Paulaner Original Munchner Hell Alkoholfrei

Not bottle conditioned

Paulaner Original Munchner Hell Alkoholfrei [baron rating 1/5] - 0% gold ale,veg & beef mince smell,cardboard savoury taste,vegetal finish Baron Orm

Looking forward to baron rating Wilson Potter ales

Source Deli stock an excellent range of local(ish) ales and are always on the look out for new beers and new breweries.

Wilson Potter Brewery dropped some samples off for them to try last week and Paul was kind enough to suggest that maybe Chris and I would like to join him in trying the bottle-conditioned range of ales. I collected them this week, here are the details of the beers:

Wilson Potter Brewery

• Bon Don Doon - 4.2% refreshing blonde beer made with Columbus & Perle hops
• In The Black - 4.2% rich, dark stout with a fruity roasted malt aroma and taste with a liquorice finish
• Making Progress - 4.1% amber beer with fruity overtones, a delicious hint of caramel and a hoppy finish

• Ruby Red - 4.4% easy drinking rich ruby ale with a full bodied malty berry taste and a floral hop finish
• Tandle Hill - 3.9% blonde beer with strong citrus flavours and aroma created using a blend of three hops
• Triple Gem - 3.9% pale ale with oaken flavours and distinct notes of blackberry

Look out for baron ratings for these Wilson Potter Brewery beer soon, and a big thank you to Amanda Seddon (@wilsonpotter) for handing themover to Source Deli!

Buy Wilson Potter ales direct

Looking forward to baron rating Burscough Lions of England

Last week I popped into the Hop Vine pub in Burscough to collect some samples of beers from the Burscough Brewing Company - a brewery based out the back of the pub. I was back in there on Sunday evening for a family meal when not only was Mike taking our food order, he also produced the bottle below saying that he'd found another one for us to try! (what a top bloke!)

Burscough Brewing Company

• Lions of England - 4.2% lager named after The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment

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

Buy Burscough ales from Source Deli

Achouffe La Chouffe

Not bottle conditioned

Achouffe La Chouffe [baron rating 5/5] - 8% gold ale,yeasty bubblegum banana smell,fresh syurpy wheat beer taste,juicy bittersweet finish Baron Orm