Durham Cloister

Bottle conditioned with lively carbonation

Durham Cloister [baron rating 4/5] - 4.5% copper ale,earthy mild sulphur smell,juicy toffee nutty bitter taste,floral dry bitter finish Baron Orm

Thank you to Chris France (@TheBeerHawk) from Beer Hawk for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Durham ales from Beer Hawk

BrewDog AB:01

Not bottle conditioned

BrewDog AB:01 [baron rating 4/5] - 10.5% amber ale,fruity sugary smell,syrupy sweet prune juice taste,fast fading dry dusty finish Baron Orm

Listen to what Chris, Michael Ironside and the Baron have to say about it

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Chilling in the hotel toilet cistern...

Thank you to Michael Ironside (@m_ironside) for bringing this along for a baron rating, it was released in 2010 so has been maturing for a number of years before we got to try it!

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Partizan Stout FES

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Partizan Stout FES [baron rating 5/5] - 8.6% black ale,roasted liquorice smell,sweet dark choc coffee liqueur taste,boozy roasted finish Baron Orm

Buy Partizan ales from Ales By Mail

Weihenstephan Hefe Weissbier

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Weihenstephan Hefe Weissbier [baron rating 5/5] - 5.4% gold ale,banana wheat smell,lemon bubblegum custard herbal taste,long fruity finish Baron Orm

Note: This also had a touch of fresh coriander at the end giving a lovely herbal lift to the long fruity finish.

Buy Weihenstephan from Tesco

Valhalla Island Bere

Not bottle conditioned

Valhalla Island Bere [baron rating 4/5] - 4.2% gold ale,sweetish grassy smell,mild apple caramel taste,long slight apple skin sour finish Baron Orm

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Thank you to Chris for bringing this round for a baron rating! He visited this most northerly brewery this summer on holiday and brought back a selection for us to baron rate, he also got a chance for a quick tour!

Buy Valhalla ales direct

Howling Hops Smoked Porter

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Howling Hops Smoked Porter [baron rating 4/5] - 5.2% ruby ale,campfire smell,balanced burnt fruitcake smoky taste,long hoppy burnt finish Baron Orm

Thank you to @villabone for handing this over for a baron rating!

Buy Howling Hops ales from Cotteridge Wines

Looking forward to baron rating Siren ales thanks to eeBria

eeBria got in touch with me a few weeks back asking if I'd like to try out their service, they are a new player on the online beer scene aiming to "showcase small but brilliant and talented UK alcohol producers". You place your order via their website which lists numerous beer, wine and spirit producers and then they pass the order on so that your booze is sent direct from the producer aiming for it to be as fresh as possible when it comes to your door.

They aim to be different: you are "buying directly" from the brewery, so there are no products sitting around in warehouses and they only sell from "the best breweries" - currently Kernel, Siren, Brew By Numbers, Harbour, Celt Experience, with more to follow.

They offered me a free case of ale and I picked Siren Craft Brew, I'd not heard of them before but after looking on RateBeer decided that they were well worth a try ;) The order did take quite a while to get to me, Siren were expecting their bottles back from the bottler sooner than they did and so they still had them available for order via eeBria which held up my order for a few days. Anyway the beers arrived in perfect condition on Thursday (in a nice sturdy box), here are the details:

Siren Craft Brew

• Broken Dream - 6.5% breakfast stout. Deep and complex,coffee and chocolate aromas, with the silky unctuousness of oats to create thick, velvety delirium
• Half Mast QIPA - 2.7% Quarter IPA, golden coloured IPA has a surprising malt base considering it's strength. Low bitterness but a huge hop profile popping with mango and grapefruit
• Limoncello IPA - 9.1% truely different beer,created as a beery version of of the Italian sipping drink Limoncello, the three brewers of Siren, Mikkeller and Hill Farmstead came together to craft something that doesn't fit a style or category. A malt base of pilsner and wheat,lactose to provide sweetness balanced by tons of lemon zest and juice

• Liquid Mistress - 5.8% red IPA,biscuit & burnt raisin malt base with peach and grapefruit highlights
• Soundwave - 5.6% IPA, golden, hoppy and full with a resinous finish
• Undercurrent - 4.5% oatmeal pale ale,bold bready and nutty malt with a spicy, citrus, floral concoction. The body is silky and creamy

Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Siren Craft Brew ales soon, and a big thank you to eeBria (@eeBriaUK) for sending them through to me!

Buy Siren ales from eeBria (and get 10% off if you use code "BARON" at the checkout)

Mayfields Ducking Stool

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Mayfields Ducking Stool [baron rating 4/5] - 4.4% copper ale,sweetish citrus smell,biscuity sharp zingy citrus taste,tangy fruity finish Baron Orm

Thank you to Adam (@MayfieldsBrewer) from Mayfields Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Mayfields ales from Holborn Ales

Fordham Copperhead

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Fordham Copperhead [baron rating 3/5] - 5.2% copper ale,earthy caramel smell,balanced spicy peppery caramel taste,spicy juicy finish Baron Orm

Thank you to Gemma (@SlurpBeer) from Slurp for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Fordham ales from Slurp

Elland Amnesia

Not bottle conditioned

Elland Amnesia [baron rating 2/5] - 5.8% copper ale,very mild strawberry citrus smell,medicinal peppery taste,herbal mild strawberry finish Baron Orm

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Thank you to Martin from Elland Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Mayfields Auntie Myrtle's

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Mayfields Auntie Myrtle's [baron rating 4/5] - 4.5% amber ale,earthy mild vineous fruit smell,burnt toast toffee taste,fruity earthy finish Baron Orm

Thank you to Adam (@MayfieldsBrewer) from Mayfields Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Mayfields ales from Holborn Ales

Weird Beard Mariana Trench

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Weird Beard Mariana Trench [baron rating 5/5] - 5.3% gold ale,pine citrus mango smell,balanced creamy bitter taste,long fruity bitter finish Baron Orm

Thank you to @tabamatu from Elusive Brewing for handing this over for a baron rating!

Buy Weird Beard ales from Ales By Mail

Thornbridge Halcyon

Not bottle conditioned

Thornbridge Halcyon [baron rating 5/5] - 7.4% gold ale,floral resin green hops smell,clean herbal peachy bitter taste,perfumed floral finish Baron Orm

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Thank you to Chris France (@TheBeerHawk) from Beer Hawk for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Thornbridge ales from Beer Hawk

Valhalla Sjolmet Stout

Not bottle conditioned

Valhalla Sjolmet Stout [baron rating 3/5] - 5% dark ruby stout,choc boiled sweets smell,vineous berries taste,choc berries tobacco finish Baron Orm

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

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Thank you to Chris for bringing this round for a baron rating! He visited this most northerly brewery this summer on holiday and brought back a selection for us to baron rate, he also got a chance for a quick tour!

Buy Valhalla ales direct

Looking forward to baron rating Beer Hawk's Champion Bottled Beers of Britain

The Great British Beer Festival was held back in August and online beer retailer Beer Hawk were one of the sponsors of the event.Apart from being there for the festival they also produced a 15-bottle finalists mixed case of the finalists of CAMRA's 2013 Champion Bottled Beer of Britain award.

They very kindly sent me a box to review, below are the contents (which arrived last week). All these beers are bottle conditioned as that is CAMRA's stipulation for bottled ales.

• Beowulf Dragon Smoke - 5.3% stout
• Conwy Clogwyn Gold - 4% light quaffable golden ale with plenty of hop aroma and a long bitter finish
• Harveys Imperial Extra Double Stout - 9% Imperial Russian Stout
• Hopshackle Restoration [baron rating 5/5] - 9.5% Belgian strong ale inspired beer which has been aged for 6 months before bottling
• Marble Chocolate Marble [baron rating 4/5] - 5.5% beer which covers the middle ground between a stout and a porter. A smooth rich and full bodied beer, with a firm backbone of bitterness. Coffee and liquorice aromas are from the chocolate malt, a hint of sweetness and a long bitter finish

• Marble Lagonda IPA [baron rating 5/5] - 5% clean, hoppy IPA, the beer delivers citrus, fruit and a long crisp finish owing to the use of 6 different hops
• Neath Black - 5.5% superb dark malt flavour is balanced by a refreshing hop bitterness and an outragous amount of aroma hops
• O'Hanlon's Port Stout - 4.8% Our prize-wining stout is blended with a softening measure of rich ruby Port
• Old Bear Black Mari'a - 4.2% wholesome jet black stout, smooth on the palete, blended with two English hops, producing a strong roast malt flavour with a fruity finish
• Spire Sgt. Pepper Stout - 5.5% Our nationally award-winning stout laced with ground black pepper

• St Austell Proper Job [baron rating 5/5] - 5.5% Cornish IPA, a 'proper' IPA, strong golden ale that's powerfully hopped, bursting with citrus and grapefruit flavours
• Stewart Embra - 5% classic amber beer packed full of flavour. Full in body with a fruit aroma balanced with a full, yet soft bitterness
• Stewart St Giles -5% dark, malty & smooth. A robust, rich and well balanced beer full of body and flavour
• Worthington White Shield [baron rating 4/5] -5.6% finest India Pale Ale for true IPA connoisseurs
• Young's Special London Ale [baron rating 5/5] - 6.4% smooth, rich, malty ale with notes of candied fruit on the palate and a powerful spicy hop finish

Look out for 'baron ratings' of these beers soon, and a big thank you to Chris France (@TheBeerHawk) from Beer Hawk for sending these through to me!

Buy all these beers from Beer Hawk and get 10% off if you use my discount code "BARON" at checkout!

Sharp's Dubbel Coffee Stout

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Sharp's Dubbel Coffee Stout [baron rating 3/5] - 7% black ale,fruity smell,sweet fruity Belgian (not funky) taste,coffee liquor finish Baron Orm

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

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Thank you to @SharpsBrewery from Sharp's Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Sharp's ales direct