Beer #392- Acorn Barnsley Bitter

I recently made my first visit to Cask Pub & Kitchen in Pimlico, the predecessor to the excellent Craft chain. It had been on my to-do list for some time but Pimlico isn't an area I'd regularly visit, but I finally made it and spent a very pleasant Saturday evening with a few beers and one of their excellent burgers. The cask ales on offer had a Yorkshire theme with this Acorn Barnsley Bitter sitting alongside half a dozen or so offerings from Bradford's Salamander Brewing Company. Acorn Brewery was established in 2003 and this Barnsley Bitter was a great introduction for me. The taste was dominated by beautiful  biscuity malt, with some toffee notes too. Earthy flavoursome and robust, this is one of the best bitters I've had in absolutely ages.


Brewery: Acorn Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 3.8%

Beer #388 - East London Foundation Bitter

I was pretty happy to see this on the bar at Enfield Town Football Club when I visited there a couple of weeks ago. I still expect to be limited to macro lagers when visiting places like this so it’s always a pleasant surprise to see something more drinkable. This Foundation bitter from East London brewery is a very good one too. A solid bitter base of toffee malts is balanced with some subtle-but-very-definitely-there grassy hoppy notes. I did find it quite sweet but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment at all.







Brewer: East London (ELB)
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.2%

Beer #373 - Kite Cwrw Gorslas

Another Kite beer that I picked up whilst in Hereford, following on from my recent post about the brewery's Welsh Pale Ale. Cwrw Gorslas appears to be the brewery's signature best bitter and is apparently marketed as 'Bluestone Bitter' in England (at least according to the beers RateBeer entry). As bottled bitters go this fares very well indeed, as per many previous posts I find that many supermarket bitters, particularly the mass produced ones, suffer from excessive carbonation. This was excellent, sweet and fruity with plenty of toffee from the malt and pleasantly bitter. Another good one.





Brewery: The Kite Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.3%

Beer #371 - Pembrokeshire Daft Bass

This was a guest ale at The Victory pub in Hereford that I tried when I visited over the Christmas period. Much like the Herefordshire Owd Bull featured in my last post, this was a best bitter without any remarkable features. It had a good malt character with a nice dose of nutmeg but little coming through in terms of hops. Solid but unspectacular.











Brewery: Pembrokeshire Brewing Company
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.1%

Beer #370 - Hereford Herefordshire Owd Bull

Herefordshire's best-known brewery is undoubtedly Wye Valley but within the city of Hereford itself you can find the Hereford Brewery. A microbrewery that is attached to The Victory pub, the brewery was previously known as Spinning Dog prior to a recent re-brand. When I still lived in Herefordshire I was a regular at the excellent pub quiz held at the Victory and a decent break over Christmas allowed me the chance to return. I went for a pint of Owd Bull, the brewery's best bitter. I was gobsmacked to be charged just £2.60 for a pint, I know it is produced on-site which no doubt reduces the cost but to find a decent pint for less than 3 quid is a real rarity these days, for me at least. Anyway this beer was a solid bitter with the malt very prominent, so right up my street. Nothing really there in the way of hop character but I enjoyed it nontheless and at £2.60 a pint you're laughing.

Brewery: Hereford Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 3.9%

Beer #355 - Cader Chwerw Idris Bitter

Following on from yesterdays post another Welsh brew (I know there has been a bit of a run on these lately, this will be the last one until I crack open the bottle of Brains Dark I've been hoarding), and another from Cader Ales in Dolgellau in north Wales. Much like the Tallylyn Pale Ale I posted a short while ago this is a pretty traditional beer. It is a lovely bitter with tasty caramel notes and some good biscuity tones. It's probably not an award winner but it is a very solid beer.









Brewery: Cader Ales
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.0%

Beer #354 - Tomos Watkin Cwrw Idris

Tomos Watkin's Cwrw Idris is another Welsh beer kindly donated to me by parents from a recent trip. According to the Tomos Watkin website the beer is "dedicated to the memory of Idris Parry AB, who established the Hurns Mineral Water Co., after he'd survived being torpedoed and sunk by the Kaiser... twice!" which is uhh...interesting. Anyway this premium bitter has some wonderful depth of flavour, rich dark berries and fruitcake, and yet there was slightly odd sherberty taste hanging over thinly over the top of everything. I'm not sure whether the bottle was a bit duff as you could tell that the fundamentals of this beer were bang on.




Brewery: Tomos Watkin
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 5.2%

Beer #341 - Everards Tiger

This was another guest ale at my regular post-football haunt The Compton Arms. There wasn't too much of interest on the bar this week but sometimes, as per my previous post, all you need is a decent bitter. Everards is a big regional brewer based in Leicester that has been around since the mid-nineteenth century. Tiger is their signature brew and it has a strong toffee aroma. The flavour is more of the same - a good malt-forward bitter.

Brewery: Everards Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.2%

Beer #340 - London Fields Love Not War

Another pint at the Nags Head in Walthamstow and again I went for a local-ish brew this time from London Fields. The story goes that Love Not War was brewed by the London Fields gang when they were stuck in the brewery during the London riots a few years ago. It's a very good take on a classic English bitter and was perfect drinking after a long day of out there, flavoursome stuff. Sometimes all you want is a decent bitter. Love Not War has some lovely caramel notes that dominate the flavour and it has a hint of nuttiness in there too. Really enjoyed this one.






Brewery: London Fields Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.2%

Beer #319 - St Peters Ruby Red Ale

Last Friday I spent the evening in one of my favourite drinking establishments, the Jerusalem Tavern near Farringdon. I’ve posted about how great I think this pub is before but for those that don’t know, it is owned by St Peter’s, a Suffolk brewery, and typically stocks about 15 of their beers in a cracking environment. It was the sort of night that disappears in a haze of copious amounts of beer and decent (for the most part) conversation. Anyway for most of the evening I drank the excellent Best Bitter but for a brief period it was off while the cask was changed, which meant a switch to the Ruby Red Ale. I rarely enjoy beers that are ‘ruby’ or ‘red’ or anything similar but this one was an absolute cracker. The aroma is promising with a smell of toffee and dark fruit. It’s full in body and rich and the flavours from the malt are superb; caramel and chocolate yet not too sweet and a bit of bitterness. This is a very robust beer with some wonderful flavours, a real winner.

Brewery: St Peter's Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.3%

Beer #318 - Hook Norton Hooky

Hook Norton is an Oxfordshire brewery that sells quite a lot of beer in my home of Herefordshire (at least I assume they do; there was always a lot of their beer around). As such I've got something of a soft spot for it as it was one of the breweries that provided my real ale education. You don’t see their beer quite so often in London so when given the chance of a pint of Hooky last week I gladly took it. Hooky is the Hook Norton’s best bitter, indeed it used to simply be known as ‘Best Bitter’, subsequently being re-named ‘Hooky Bitter’ and finally simply ‘Hooky’. It pours an attractive golden brown and the nose is lovely floral hops. Flavour-wise its malt-forward with wonderful burnt-caramel notes balanced with a rich earthiness and at 3.5% ABV it’s perfect for a session.

Brewery: Hook Norton
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 3.5%

Beer #309 - Dartmoor Jail Ale

Dartmoor Brewery was founded in 1994 and has subsequently come the second largest brewery in Devon. This one was provided for me by Uncle who works as a drinks salesman and I assume it was one he had kicking around in the cupboard somewhere! Jail Ale is a solid, if unspectacular, English bitter. It’s reasonably full-bodied with nice caramel malt flavours that lend the beer quite a hefty dose of sweetness. Not amazing but not bad, I’d be interested to see how it fares on cask.








Brewery: Dartmoor Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.8%

Beer #305 - Clarkshaws Phoenix Rising Beer #306 - Brick Sir Thomas Gardyner

These are another couple of beers I had at my local football club, Dulwich Hamlet FC. I've written before how the club is making an effort to get some decent local beers in and they really surpassed themselves with these two. Both served by gravity dispense from the bar, I had a pint of Clarkshaw's Phoenix Rising and a couple of pints of Brick's Sir Thomas Gardyner. Both beers were brewed within walking distance of the club and as you can see were available for a supremely reasonable £3.20 a pint.
Phoenix Rising is an excellent bitter with a wonderful malt profile, exactly my cup of tea. It pours a deep copper with an off-white head. The malt lends it a lovely chocolatey sweetness with some bready notes, a really great session beer.
Sir Thomas Gardyner from Peckham's Brick Brewery is a different beast. I've had a variety of different beers from Brick and they've all been great with this one no exception. This is a reasonably low strength IPA (3.8% ABV) that packs in a great deal of flavour. It pours a hazy orange and the nose is earthy hops. The taste isvery fruity and juicy without a huge amount of bitterness; it is there but it doesn't dominate. I really enjoyed this one, a true session IPA without the claggy bitterness that they so often have and that puts me off IPAs as a session drink.






Brewery: Clarkshaws
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.0%

Brewery: Brick Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 3.8%

Beer #294 - Driftwood Red Mission

Please see my entry on the Great British Beer Festival 2014 for tasting notes and further info.

















Brewery: Driftwood Spars Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.0%

Beer #293 - Fellows Full English

Please see my entry on the Great British Beer Festival 2014 for tasting notes and further info.








Brewery: Fellows Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 3.8%

Beer #286 - Heavy Industry Collaborator

Another pint at the Old Red Lion on Saturday night and one from a Welsh brewery. Heavy Industry is a microbrewery based in Henllan, North Wales with a ten barrel capacity and, as yet, no website (although they do have a Facebook page). This beer is described as a best bitter but it is one that packs a decent punch and is fairly complex. It pours a dark reddish brown with a tan head. The aroma gives you a hefty hit of the dark malt character with dark fruits and raisins with a hint of spice, it smells almost like bara brith with a side of alcohol. In taste its more of the same, full-bodied and dominated by the malts (it's brewed with Maris Otter, crystal and chocolate malts) which gives it a dark, rich fruity flavour with hints of dark chocolate. I liked this one a lot - a good malt forward bitter with a bit of a twist and plenty of flavour.

Brewery: Heavy Industry
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 5.0%

Beer #277 - Titanic They Think It's Ale Over

It appears that this recipe (or at least the pump clip) is dusted off every four years as the FIFA World Cup rolls around. As you can see the clip shows Geoff Hurst smashing the ball into the German net in the dying seconds of the 1966 final, with the beers name a reference to the immortal (if you’re English) commentary of that very moment. Unfortunately by the time this made it to The Compton Arms last week the World Cup was already over and the England players had long since embarked on their holidays following an early exit. Still, great beer! I’ve not heard a bad thing about Titanic and this beer was super. The beer poured a pale amber colour and the aroma was of grassy, earthy hops. Rather bitter in the taste with tropical fruits and citrus. Perhaps a bit overdone on the bitterness front but I found the more I drank, the more I liked it.

Brewery: Titanic Brewery
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.5%

Beer #267 - St Austell Tribute

Tribute is the flagship bitter of Cornish brewery St Austell and apparently accounts for 80% of the brewery’s sales, which surprises me somewhat as I’m far more used to seeing its super Proper Job IPA on sale. I sunk a couple of pints of Tribute at the Compton Arms in Islington, one of my regular haunts and was very happy to do so. It’s a cracking bitter that provides a wonderful balance between biscuit, light malt and citrus hop. The pour is golden and indeed this is arguably closer to a golden ale than a bitter. The aroma is of tropical fruit and biscuit. It’s medium-bodied with plenty of citrus fruit in the taste and a bitter finish balanced with some sweet malt. Very good indeed.

Brewery: St Austell Brewery

Country: United Kingdom

ABV: 4.2%

Beer #232 - Wharfe Bank Lantern Rouge

Now generally I look at themed beers, particularly sports themed beers, with contempt. They’re invariably pretty poor beers knocked out by major brewers to capitalise on say, the Ashes or the World Cup. However, I am also a sucker for a well-designed pump clip and I love the Tour de France, so I had to give this beer a try. The ‘Lanterne Rouge’ is the name given to the last placed competitor in the Tour, so named for the red lantern that is invariably attached to the last carriage on a railway train. The Lanterne Rouge is something of a distinction and indeed it has been known for riders in the Tour to actively compete for last place. The beer is from Wharfe Bank Brewery in Yorkshire and brewed as a special to commemorate this year’s Grand Départ of the Tour which is hosted by the county. The beer pours quite a dark brown-red colour. The over-riding flavour is of sweet malt with perhaps a subtle hint of spice and quite a dry, bitter finish. Pretty good, especially for a themed beer!

Brewery: Wharfe Bank Brewery
Country: United Kingdom 
ABV: 4.4%

Beer #230 - Harveys Sussex Best Bitter

After the bitter hoppiness of Plateau and Parklife I fancied something a bit more low key and went for a pint of Harveys Sussex Best.  For those not in the know, Harveys is a Sussex institution with a brewing history that stretches back over 200 years. This, their flagship bitter won CAMRA’s Champion Best Bitter of Britain award for two consecutive years in 2005 and 2006. It pours amber with a slight head. On the nose its earthy and the caramel malt comes through. The taste is good with biscuit and earthy notes with toffee malt flavours also evident.  It didn’t blow me away but as a solid English bitter it was good if unspectacular.



Brewery: Harveys
Country: United Kingdom
ABV: 4.0%