Bath Barnstormer

Bath Barnstormer [baron rating 3/5] - 4.5% dark brown ale has a chocolate smell,a medium fruity roasted malt taste & tangy finishBaron Orm

Buy Bath Ales here

Williams Bros Alba

Williams Bros Alba [baron rating 3/5] - 7.5% amber ale,spicy earthy aroma,caramel sweet malt & slight bitter taste,earthy jelly baby finishBaron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Thank you to Williams Bros. for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Williams Bros. ales here

Coach House Cheshire Gold

Coach House Cheshire Gold [baron rating 3/5] - 4.1% amber ale,toffee & herbal hop smell, hoppy bitter taste, slight bitter finishBaron Orm

Cheddar Potholer

Cheddar Potholer [baron rating 4/5] - 4.5% copper ale, spicy citrus aroma, spicy citrus hops & biscuit malt taste, slightly sweet dry finishBaron Orm

Buy Cheddar ales here

Strangford Lough Legbiter

Strangford Lough Legbiter [baron rating 2/5] - 4.8% copper ale,apple & toffee aroma,sweet tangy bitter taste,metallic bittersweet finishBaron Orm

Thank you to Grace from Strangford Lough for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Williams Bros Kelpie

Williams Bros Kelpie [baron rating 3/5] - 4.4% black ale,rock pools smell,refreshing balanced bitter taste,sweet chocolate roasted finishBaron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Thank you to Williams Bros. for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Williams Bros ales here

Hook Norton Haymaker

Hook Norton Haymaker [baron rating 3/5] - 4.2% copper ale,herbal dark chocolate smell,sweet malt taste & sweet spicy bitter finishBaron Orm

St. Peter's IPA

St. Peter's IPA [baron rating 2/5] - 5.5% amber ale,malt & herbal hops smell,slight fruit malt & lemon hops taste & too strong bitter finishBaron Orm

Waitrose September ale & beer offers (25th August - 21st September 2010)

It's September's new beer & ale offers time in Waitrose, their PR staff had informed me ahead of time what this month's ale offers are:

• Bath Gem
£1.59 instead of £1.99

• Black Sheep Ale [baron rating 4/5]
£1.48 instead of £1.85

• St. Peter's Organic Best Bitter
£1.48 instead of £1.85

• Sharp's Doom Bar [baron rating 4/5]
£1.35 instead of £1.74

• Brains SA Gold
£1.41 instead of £1.89

• Duchy Originals 1905 Ruby Ale
£1.49 instead of £1.99

Sharp's Doom Bar is my winner this month, a very good price (£1,35) for an excellent beer!

Harviestoun Number Of The Beast

Harviestoun Number Of The Beast [baron rating 4/5] - 6.66% gold ale,spiced slight yeasty smell,spicy sweet taste,lasting tart bitter finishBaron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Thank you to Chris from Harviestoun for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Harviestoun ales here

Harviestoun Old Engine Oil

Harviestoun Old Engine Oil [baron rating 5/5] - 6% black porter,roasted fruit smell,smooth sweet roasted taste,lasting roasted bitter finishBaron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Thank you to Chris from Harviestoun for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Harviestoun ales here

A big thank you to Alex at ALL BEER

Last week I broke my 'baron rating' tasting glass and I was pretty gutted to say the least. Luckily Alex from ALL BEER (the guy who gave the glass to me in the first place) got in touch and after a few emails I placed an order for six ALL BEER tasting glasses.

This all sounds quite dull really until I say that I had the email conversation with him on Monday afternoon and the glasses arrived by Tuesday lunchtime!

Thanks again Alex, my 'baron ratings' can now resume...

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Adnams Solebay very soon!

Back in April I was lucky enough to receive a swing-top bottle of a rather special beer. It was a 10% Adnams beer, drawn straight from the open conditioning tanks (so lacked any carbonation) and sent to see what I thought of it.

Since then Fergus & the Adnams team have been busy turning this mystery ale into their special beer to celebrate 350 years of brewing at the Sole Bay brewery. On Monday I received a bottle of the finished product and I must say it looks rather good:

It's a 750ml champagne-style bottle, corked, caged & foil-wrapped in a special tin which includes the important historic dates of the Adnams brewery.

I'm really looking forward to 'baron rating' this beer, thanks to Fergus and the Adnams team for sending this through!

JW Lees John Willie's

JW Lees John Willie's [baron rating 3/5] - 4.5% amber ale has a malty green hops smell,subtle caramel malt taste & malty bitter finishBaron Orm

Buy JW Lees ales here

Goose Island Honker's Ale

Goose Island Honker's Ale [baron rating 3/5] - 4.3% copper ale,fruit & caramel smell,frothy juicy citrus bitter taste,dry bitter finishBaron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Thank you to Richard from myBrewerytap for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Goose Island ales here

Acorn Barnsley Gold

Acorn Barnsley Gold [baron rating 3/5] - 4.3% gold ale,faint citrus aroma,earthy nutty very bitter taste & very bitter hop finishBaron Orm

Buy Acorn ales here

Summer Wine Apache

Summer Wine Apache [baron rating 4/5] - 5.4% gold ale,grassy pithy pine smell,frothy pithy grapefruit hops taste,dry pithy zesty finishBaron Orm

Thank you to James from Summer Wine for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Williams Bros Summer Sun

Williams Bros Summer Sun [baron rating 3/5] - 4% copper ale,earthy floral hop smell,crisp hoppy bittersweet taste,clean dry herbal finishBaron Orm

Thank you to Williams Bros. for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Williams Bros ales here

Hardknott Infra Red

Hardknott Infra Red [baron rating 4/5] - 6.5% red ale,citrus roasted smell,sweet citrus spicy big bitter taste,dry astringent roasted finishBaron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Thank you to Richard from myBrewerytap for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Hardknott ales here

Dark Star Sunburst

Dark Star Sunburst [baron rating 4/5] - 4.8% gold ale,pithy citrus aroma,crisp orange & grapefruit hoppy taste,bittersweet finishBaron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Thank you to James from Dark Star for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Dark Star ales here

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Summer Wine ales very soon!

I received some Summer Wine Brewery ales in my winners pack from AleTalk back in June. I found one of them a little harsh and one was excellent and the stout you will just have to wait and see.

Shortly after posting about them I was contacted by James at Summer Wine Brewery telling me that the ales were from their old range. They now have a new and improved line-up having learnt from their previous ones and asked if I would like to try them...

Yesterday I was very happy to see a Summer Wine-branded van pull up outside and a smartly dressed man personally delivering a box of ale!

• Apache - 5.2% American pale ale

• Elbow Grease - 3.8% golden ale

• Houblon - 4.2% India pale ale

• Invictus - 4.5% copper ale

• Project 6 (Brew Two) - 6.8% special IPA

• Teleporter - 5% 10 grain porter

• Tiberius - 4.2% pale ale

• Treason - 4.8% treacle stout

Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Summer Wine beers soon, and a big thank you to James & Andy from Summer Wine for sending these through to me!

Buy Summer Wine ales where? (if you know please add a comment!)

Crouch Vale Amarillo

Crouch Vale Amarillo [baron rating 5/5] - 5% pale gold ale,citrus & pine smell,pithy grapefruit bittersweet taste,long dry astringent finishBaron Orm

Buy Crouch Vale ales here

St Peter's Best Bitter

St Peter's Best Bitter [baron rating 2/5] - 3.7% dark amber ale,sweet caramel playdoh smell,harsh sharp bitter taste,dry quite bitter finishBaron Orm

Budget Flying Dog ales in Tesco

Tesco has some massive discounts on Flying Dog ales at the moment, Classic Pale Ale for 88p & Gonzo Porter for £1.29 whilst stocks last!

Little Creatures Pale Ale

Little Creatures Pale Ale [baron rating 5/5] - 5.2% golden ale,tropical spicy smell,fresh slight caramel & citrus taste,citrus bitter finishBaron Orm

Buy Little Creatures ales here

I'm going to be judging this year's SIBA North National Beer Competition!

I read recently via Tandleman's blog that the SIBA North National Beer Competition (and beer festival) was going to be held in Manchester this year at the end of October. Manchester is a short(ish) train ride from Ormskirk so I wondered if they were looking for any extra judges. After a few good words were put in for me via various folk on twitter I received an invite from SIBA asking if I would like to be a judge!

A big thank you to Lisa Hoffin (SIBA) & Alex Brodie (Hawkshead & SIBA North) for inviting me to judge! Also thanks to all the kind folk on twitter who put a good word in for me.

If you are going to be there then please leave a comment below, would be great to meet up with you face to face!

Summer Wine Ale Caesar

Summer Wine Ale Caesar [baron rating 5/5] - 4.6% pale gold ale,floral grapefruit smell,grapefruit citrus hops taste, dry pithy bitter finishBaron Orm

Williams Bros Grozet

Williams Bros Grozet [baron rating 2/5] - 5% pale gold ale,fruity wheat savoury smell,crisp bitter sour fruit taste,sweet & sour finishBaron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Available in both 330ml 'historic' bottles and 500ml 'contemporary' bottles.

Thank you to Williams Bros. for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Williams Bros ales here

Morrisons August ale & beer offers (9th August - 5th September 2010)

It's August's new beer & ale offers time in Morrisons so I popped into the local Ormskirk branch on Tuesday to check them out.

Here are the details:

• Black Sheep Yorkshire Square Ale [baron rating 3/5]
£1.43 instead of £1.63

• Holts Humdinger
£1.19 instead of £1.69

• Marston's Strong Pale Ale [baron rating 3/5]
£1.55 instead of £1.75

• Marston's Pedigree VSOP [baron rating coming soon]
£1.95 instead of £2.25

• Ringwood Old Thumper [baron rating 2/5]
£1.56 instead of £1.76

• Wothington's White Shield [baron rating 4/5]
£1.59 instead of £1.89

• Wychwood King Goblin [baron rating 2/5]
£1.89 instead of £2.19

The winner this month is Worthington's White Shield, it's a quality bottle conditioned ale with a superb mouthfeel, so light & frothy and very balanced as well.

Hook Norton Old Hooky for 99p a bottle in B&M Bargains

B&M Bargains in Ormskirk has 500ml bottles of Hook Norton Old Hooky [baron rating 4/5] for 99p (best before end of March 2011)

Strangford Lough St. Patrick's Best

Strangford Lough St. Patrick's Best [baron rating 2/5] - 3.8% copper ale,caramel aroma,spicy hops & caramel taste,tart metallic tangy finishBaron Orm

Thank you to Grace from Strangford Lough for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Hardknott ales very soon!

There's been a lot of talk of Hardknott Dave's beers recently, including this very current video review of Infra Red from beer guru Zak Avery. I've met Dave and he's a great bloke & I've been very interested to see if his beers are as good.

Luckily for me Richard from myBrewerytap is my guardian beer angel and contacted me over the weekend to ask if I wanted to try some of Dave's beers.  Well who would say no?!?

Hardknott Brewery

• Aether Blaec 2009
  8% whisky cask aged stout
• Granite 2009
  10.4% barley wine beer
• Infra Red
  6.5% ruby red American style IPA

Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Hardknott beers soon, and a big thank you to Richard from myBrewerytap for sending these through to me!

Buy Hardknott ales here

Looking forward to 'baron rating' Harviestoun's Number of the Beast very soon!

I found out about this Sweden-only export beer from reading Harviestoun's newsletter and was very intrigued to see what it tasted like.

This beer has been brewed for a Swedish rock festival this summer and so the beer has an excellent heavy metal theme. The beer is called "Number of the Beast", it's ABV is 6.66% and it has a label around the neck with the words "metal edition" - oh and the Harviestoun mouse has a leather jacket and a guitar as well!

It's a "light coloured but strong tasting beer, intense blend of hops from around the world".

Look out for 'baron ratings' of this Harviestoun beerssoon, and a big thank you to Chris from Harviestoun for sending it through to me!

Buy Harviestoun ales here

Sharp's Doom Bar

Sharp's Doom Bar [baron rating 4/5] - 4.3% amber ale,fruity buttery smell,sweet caramel malt & spicy juicy hop taste & juicy bitter finishBaron Orm

Buy Sharp's ales here