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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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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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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I decided to try out the swanky new real ale emporium in Chester having read about it in a local CAMRA mag which lead me to the Brunning and Price pub, The Architect. Never having set foot in the place before I quickly scanned the pump clips and decided on a pint of the Blonde by Tatton Brewery. The other Tatton brews have always been pretty good (in particular the honey based brew “Lazy Haze”) so I had high hopes for this. The barman seemed to have a nice wrist…

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