Batemans Mocha is a strong stout from the traditional family brewers Batemans who were founded in 1874. Their company slogan is “Good Honest Ales” and a strong stout that has chocolate and coffee as the predominant flavours ticks all the boxes as far as I’m concerned so I have high hopes for this one. Mocha pours a darkish mahogany colour as opposed to the more traditional jet black stout and no matter how it was poured from the bottle it was impossible to retain any head for longer than 30…
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The Pied Bull is an historic Chester city centre pub that has origins as far back as 1155 and is reputed to be the oldest licenced premises in Chester. The strengths of the pub lie in the wide selection of real ales on cask (along with a couple of their own brews which I’ll get to in a bit), and the cosy traditional style of the interior. Given that it’s a city centre pub with history you can expect to bump into a variety of characters in there ranging from…
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Eugene’s Lair is a limited edition US style pale ale from the Oakham brewery. Eugene’s Lair was the first (of many) cask conditioned beers I sampled at the Liverpool Craft Beer Expo in June of 2013 and fortuitously for me it turned out to be one of the best I tried that day. The ale is a light amber/darker gold colour and at 4.3% is fairly low in ABV for an American style pale ale. However, the relatively low alcohol content was more than compensated for by the generous level…
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Continuum is a cask conditioned Best Bitter from the Hardknott brewery based up in Cumbria. At 4% ABV, Hardknott Continuum is very middle of the road when considering alcohol strength. In fact, that is pretty much the overriding impression when considering the brew. It is a standard session Bitter that is by no means an earth shattering, but is perfectly pleasant to drink. The beer pours a coppery amber colour with a small slightly off white head. There is a slight earthy aroma to Continuum – woody and piney that…
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Galaxy (sometimes known as Single Hop Galaxy) is a golden ale produced by Mallinsons brewery in Huddersfield. At 3.9% ABV it is at the lower scale when it comes to alcohol content, even when compared to the golden ale category. The ale poured a light straw colour with a fluffy white head which was retained through drinking. The aroma was a subtle citrusy note but upon tasting there was less citrus tastes evident. Galaxy had a more earthy taste with hints of pine and grass and a long bitter, dry…
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Cotswold Way is a premium bitter offered by the Wickwar brewery from Gloucestershire. It was another of the beers sampled at the trade session at the recent Stockport Beer Festival. The ale is pretty much a quintessential English Bitter both in terms of colour and taste. At a strength of 4.2% it is also pretty middle of the road as alcohol level goes. Wickwar is a new brewery to me although they have been in operation since 1990 so they have a degree of brewing pedigree. What characterises Cotswold Way…
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New World Red is a seasonal ale from the Yorkshire brewery Saltaire. It is an amber coloured relatively strong ale at 5.2%. After pouring the cask ale the thin head started to dissipate rapidly which isn’t a terribly good sign for a darker type of beer. The first impression I had was that it was a heavily malted beer, in fact it was somewhat vinous which again is not my preference (whether this was intentional or due to poor condition I’m not too sure). There are a variety of hops…
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Okell’s Manx Pale Ale (or MPA if you’re into the whole brevity thing) is a 3.6% ABV pale ale from the famous brewery located on the Isle of Man. The beer was sampled at this year’s Stockport Beer Festival and it was my first try of the MPA and I must say I was very pleasantly surprised. The ale poured a straw blonde colour and as seems to be the case with many blonde type beers at the moment I expected a muddled, grassy type of taste with little aroma….
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Let There Be Beer is a new large scale marketing campaign that was launched in the UK last week by a conglomeration of some of the largest beer brewers in the world including the likes of AB InBev, Carlsberg, Heineken, Molson Coors and SABMiller, with the aim of rekindling the passion we have in this country for our beer. Their Let There Be Beer campaign will run across social media (click for their Twitter feed, and Facebook page), a new website is due to launch at http://www.lettherebebeer.com/ next month and…
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Titanic Nautical Mild was a seasonal ale that was brewed by Titanic as part of the “Mild Month”, and it’s apparently only brewed in the month of May. It is a beer that is brewed using Fuggles and Goldings hops which is what gives it its dark malt colour. The beer pours a dark ruby colour with a thick creamy head and has a sweet, slightly fruity taste which also has an ever so slight burnt maltyness and mild carbonation. It is nicely nutty on the palate with a dry,…
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