Abbey Ales Brewery Abbey Ales – Bath Humbug This is a porter style ale. It is a very dark red chestnut colour with rich toasted malt aromas. It has taste notes of rich prune fruits and sweet malts. This is an excellent porter ale with a very warming rich taste, making it an ideal ale for the winter months and Christmas season, and at any other time. It is brewed by the Abbey Ales Brewery in Bath Somerset ..read more

Shakespeare Brewing Company Shakespeare – Tempest This ale has a strong hop aroma of summer fresh notes and has a golden colour. It has an initial fresh malt sweet taste followed by a strong green hop resin bitterness. The ale presents a drink taste verging on an IPA with a similarly higher APV at 5.2% Brewed on the outskirts of the Bard’s home town of Stratford-upon Avon, The Shakespeare Brewing Company Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire ..read more

North Cotswold Brewery This is an excellent English style best bitter ale, with lots of malty aroma and a nice light chestnut colour expected for this style. It has a good blend of malts and hops in the taste and is a very drinkable ale at 4.0% ABV. This is a brew well worth hunting down. The brewery is located in the north Cotswolds. It is a family-run brewery producing a range of Ales since 1999. It has a core range of 6 ales, along with seasonal and special ales. The spent ingredients from thee brewing are handled locally and in environmentally sound ways (see Brewery website). North Cotswo ..read more

Lilley’s Cheeky Pig 7.5% Lilley’s Cheeky Pig This is a blend of medium cider and Perry. It is a golden coloured blend with a very strong honey aroma. The taste has a medium cider flavour with a distinct overlaying sweetness of honey-pear, presumably from the Perry component. It does have a higher alcohol content at 7.5%. This is one of a number of cider based drinks on offer from Lilley’s Cider, Frome Somerset ..read more

Lilley’s Star Gazer Cider 4.5% Lilley’s Star Gazer Cider This is a golden coloured dry cider with a honey apple aroma. It is a lighter dry cider, with a good apple fruit flavour. This is a good cider for dry cider drinkers. Lilley’s Cider is a family cider maker based in Frome, Somerset ..read more

Woodforde’s Brewery – Norfolk Wherry Amber Ale 3.8% Episode’s Brewery – Norfolk Wherry Amber Ale This is an Amber coloured ale with a malty sweet aroma with notes of prunes. It a sweet malt taste, with a good balanced English ale hop bitterness. Norfolk Wherry is a good traditional English bitter ale style. It is brewed by Woodforde’s Brewery in Woodbastwick near Norwich in Norfolk, on the edge of the Norfolk Broads. This is an award winning ale and is a very good choice for a traditional English bitter style ale ..read more

Twisted Oak Brewery – Slippery Slope Porter 5.5% Twisted Oak Brewery – Slippery Slope Porter Slippery Slope is a dark red-black ale with a roasted malt aroma. The ale is sweet malty ale, with a roasted malt and chocolate notes and light hop bitterness. This is an excellent porter style ale with a good sweet bitter balance. A good addition to the range from Twisted Oak Brewery based in Wrington, (North) Somerset ..read more

Harbour Brewing Co. – Antipodean IPA 5.5% Harbour Brewing Co – Antipodean IPA This India Pale Ale is a pale golden colour with a pleasant malty hop resin aroma. It’s taste begins with sweet fruity notes, quickly followed by strong hop bitterness with hints of citrus grapefruit. Harbour Brewing Company are based in Kirland, near Bodmin in Cornwall. This IPA style ale is presumably brewed with hops from New Zealand/Australia ..read more

Siren Craft Brewing – Siren Soundwave IPA 5.6% Siren Craft Brewing – Siren Soundwave IPA Well yes it’s another IPA. This ale has a pale golden colour, with a haze served from the can. The aroma is the typical resinous, citrus, with perhaps a hint of passion fruit. It’s taste begins with a sweetness of tropical fruit leading on to a lighter bitterness. This ale from Siren Craft Brewing has avoided the heavy grapefruit taste of most IPA/APA brews based on the usual selection of American hops. The result is a more drinkable ale with a good balance of sweetness and bitter notes, with hints of trop ..read more

Brewdog – West Coast Pale Ale 4.2% Brewdog – West Coast Pale Ale This ale has a golden coloured ale, with the now usual expected aromas of resinous hops and citrus grapefruit. The taste is again as expected, grapefruit bitterness but in this case moderated a little by malt sweetness. This is a typical offering from Brewdog with the usual grapefruit citrus bitterness typical of the use of American hops and the “Craft Brewing Brigade ..read more