Marston's EPA

Marston's EPA [baron rating 3/5] - 3.6% gold ale,bready mild sulphur smell,biscuity slightly sharp citrus taste,dry mild citrus finish Baron Orm

Note: Not bottle conditioned

Northcote Sunshine Jiggle

Northcote Sunshine Jiggle [baron rating 4/5] - 4.3% pale gold ale,grapefruit honey smell,zingy grapefruit smell,pithy fruity bitter finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

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Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Thank you to  Jenni (@NorthcoteBeers) from Northcote Brewery for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Northcote ales direct

Northcote El Salvador IPA

Northcote El Salvador IPA [baron rating 5/5] - 6% copper ale,fresh ground coffee smell,citrus mocha taste,big burnt coffee bitter finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

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Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Thank you to  Jenni (@NorthcoteBeers) from Northcote Brewery for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Northcote ales direct

Looking forward to baron rating Adnams Old Ale mini-cask

Adnams have always been good to the Baron, they were the very first brewery to send me some samples to baron rate in the form of a couple of bottles of their very tasty Broadside [baron rating 5/5].

After a hard day's shopping I was so pleased to see that a couple of good-looking Adnams-branded boxes had been delivered to Baron Towers, one of them containing mini-casks of Adnams Old Ale:

Adnams Brewery

• Old Ale - 4.1% mild, dark red brown in colour with an aroma of toffee and nutty chocolate. The toffee and chocolate also come through on the palette along with hints of red fruits, malt and roast grain, all balanced by a smooth bitterness, 2012 Champion Beer of East Anglia

I'd also like to say a massive thank you for the bottles of Adnams Tally-Ho 2010 [baron rating 5/5] - I'll be enjoying some of them with some fine cheese over the next few evenings...

Look out for 'baron ratings' for this Adnams beer soon, and a big thank you to @SoleBear & @Adnams from Adnams for sending it through to me!

Buy Adnams ales direct

Holts Humdinger

Holts Humdinger [baron rating 3/5] - 4.1% copper ale,earthy very mild sweet smell,sweet honey slightly spicy taste,slight sweet fruit finish Baron Orm

Note: Not bottle conditioned

St Peter's The Saints

St Peter's The Saints [baron rating 3/5] - 4.8% copper ale,rounded TCP iodine smell,balanced smoky peaty taste,TCP/Islay whisky peaty finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

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Note: Not bottle conditioned

Thank you to @StPetersBrewery from St. Peter's Brewery for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy St. Peter's ales direct  

Happy Christmas from The Ormskirk Baron

Back in July I visited Brentwood Brewery and acquired a couple of bottles of their lovely Chockwork Orange [baron rating 5/5] with the plan to see if the statement on the back of the bottle about them working with cheese held any water.

Well months and months later Chris & I finally got around to testing it out as we finished our Christmas Baron Rating evening with a couple of bottles of the ale and some fine English cheeses (Five Counties and some Lancashire Creamy and Tasty).

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

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The beer really worked nicely with the cheese, the sweet aspect challenging nicely the slightly tart bitter edge of the cheeses in a similar way to a fruity chutney would.



It was a fitting end to an amazing year of Baron Ratings and I would like to say thank you so much to all the breweries who have helped the Baron out over 2011, my website would be nothing without the support that you have given!

Thank You from @Christopher_R & @baron_orm

Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale

Oskar Blues Dale's Pale Ale [baron rating 5/5] - 6.5% copper ale,fruity grassy resin smell,soft balanced tropical taste,dry balanced finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

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Note: Not can conditioned ;)

Thank you to @PintsAndPanels from PintsAndPanels for sending this over for a 'baron rating'!

If you fancy some cartoon-style reviews of beers then make sure you check out the PintsAndPanels website.

Ridgeway TVA

Ridgeway TVA [baron rating 3/5] - 3.4% amber ale,very slightly sweet toast smell,grassy mild caramel bitter taste,slightly fruity finish Baron Orm

BrewDog 5AM Saint

BrewDog 5AM Saint [baron rating 4/5] - 5% dark amber ale,pine resin smell,mild dark toffee liquorice stick taste,dry peppery resinous finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

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Note: Not bottle conditioned

This was part of the autumn pack of the superb '52 week beer club' by myBrewerytap.

Join it now and make sure you say the baron made me do it!

Buy BrewDog ales from myBrewerytap

Looking forward to baron rating Northcote Cow Tower & Golden Spire

It wasn't long ago that I received some ales from Northcote Brewery so it came as a great surprise to receive a couple more bottles from their range on Monday:

Northcote Brewery

• Cow Tower - 3.8% dangerously moreish light session bitter brewed with traditional English hops
• Golden Spire - refreshing and hoppy beer, brewed with classic American hops for a fruity and crisp citrus finish

Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Northcote Brewery beers soon, and a big thank you to Jenni (@NorthcoteBeers) from Northcote Brewery for sending these through to me!

Buy Northcote ales direct

Monty's Manjana

Monty's Manjana [baron rating 3/5] - 3.9% dark amber ale,minimal aroma,grainy biscuity slight plumy taste,spicy burnt caramel finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

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Note: Bottle conditioned with moderate carbonation

Thank you to @bob_beer from Best of British Beer for handing this over for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Monty's ales from Best of British Beer

Looking forward to baron rating Stringers Spice Weasel

Jon from Stringers comes through Ormskirk quite a bit on his way to deliver casks to various lucky Liverpool pubs (no idea why no Ormskirk pub doesn't think to get some Stringers ales in!). He called in on Thursday this week to hand over a Christmas present for the baron, a 750ml bottle of Spice Weasel:

Stringers Beer

• Spice Weasel - 5.5% spiced, lightly hopped, dry, dark ale. with Cinnamon, Mace, Cardamom, Ginger, and a touch of Chilli

Look out for a baron rating for this Stringers beer soon, and a big thank you to @StringersBeer for handing it over to me!

Buy Stringers ales from myBrewerytap, Ales By Mail and Source Deli

Stonehouse KPA

Stonehouse KPA [baron rating 4/5] - 4.6% gold ale,mild sulphur smell,sweet tropical citrus taste,rounded gentle finish Baron Orm

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

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Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Inveralmond Ossian

Inveralmond Ossian [baron rating 4/5] - 4.1% gold ale,straw honey smell,spicy citrus floral honey taste,spicy bitter nutty finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Not bottle conditioned

This was part of the autumn pack of the superb '52 week beer club' by myBrewerytap.

Join it now and make sure you say the baron made me do it!

Buy Inveralmond ales from myBrewerytap

Nogne O Pale Ale

Nogne O Pale Ale [baron rating 5/5] - 6% copper ale,soft citrus smell,very drinkable balanced citrus caramel taste,dry mild fruity finish Baron Orm

Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Victory Storm King Imperial Stout

Victory Storm King Imperial Stout [baron rating 5/5] - 9.1% black stout,roasted medicinal smell,boozy choc smell,huge burnt bitter finish Baron Orm

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

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Note: Not bottle conditioned

Islay Angus Og Ale

Islay Angus Og Ale [baron rating 2/5] - 4.5% amber ale,sulphurous (rotten eggs) smell,juicy fruity spicy decent taste,fruity bitter finish Baron Orm

Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Thank you to Paul Kruzycki from Ales By Mail for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Islay ales from Ales By Mail

Looking forward to baron rating St. Peter's ales

Chris got a welcome surprise recently, St. Peter's Brewery had been trawling The British Guild of Beer Writers website and found his address and a neat little box of two St. Peter's beers arrived:

St. Peter's Brewery

• Suffolk Smokey - 4.8% peated beer, a balance of malt sweetness & hop bitterness in complemented by 'peaty' overtones
• The Saints - 4.8% whisky beer,superb balanced beer with 'smokey' overtones from peated malt

Look out for 'baron ratings' for these St. Peter's beers soon, and a big thank you to @StPetersBrewery for sending these through to Chris!

Buy St. Peter's ales direct

Saltaire Raspberry Blonde

Saltaire Raspberry Blonde [baron rating 3/5] - 4% gold ale,raspberry cordial smell,raspberry mild peppery taste,mild fruity bitter finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Not bottle conditioned

This was part of the autumn pack of the superb '52 week beer club' by myBrewerytap.

Join it now and make sure you say the baron made me do it!

Buy Meantime ales from myBrewerytap

Windsor & Eton Knight of the Garter

Windsor & Eton Knight of the Garter [baron rating 4/5] - 3.8% gold ale,spicy citrus smell,caramel spicy citrus taste,long dry pithy finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Not bottle conditioned

Thank you to @WindsorEtonBrew from Windsor & Eton Brewery for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Windsor & Eton ales direct or from Ales By Mail

Baron on Tour: Magic Rock Meet the Brewer

Last Monday was the Magic Rock 'Meet the Brewer' night at the Port Street Beer House (PSBH) in Manchester (5-10 minutes walk from Piccadilly station). Chris (my audio rating buddy), Paul (the owner of Source Deli) and myself got the train across to Manchester for the event and none of us had been to the PSBH before. It's a great bar, loads of really interesting ales on tap and in bottles.

We arrived and were given our strip of five raffle tickets, each one was swappable for a 1/2 of a particular beer - the first 'welcome ale' was a half of Curious. A 3.9% pale gold ale it had a crisp slightly sulphurous smell with a cracking bitter grapefruit taste and fruity bitter finish.

As we were waiting for the evening to start we opted to get a 750ml cork & caged bottle of Schneider Weisse Mein Nelson Sauvin in, a 7.3% peachy-lemon-smelling ale, a weisse beer with some lovely soft tropical fruits added (thanks to the Nelson Sauvin hops) which meant that even Chris and I (non-weisse beer lovers) really enjoyed it.

We were about to get another big bottle of something when the Meet the Brewer night started with Rich from Magic Rock taking centre stage and talking through the ethos behind the brewery and it's beers.

Unlike most breweries they don't add hops to the boil, they have a dedicated 'hop back' which they circulate the beer through in which to enrich it and pick up that massive hop presence - it can hold 30-40kgs of hops! They've not had to use it to it's full potential, even the massively hoppy Human Cannonball double IPA only fills the first 25kgs of it. They also use dry hopping in the fermenting vessels to gain more hop presence.

They are inspired by the US-style big tasting and smelling beers, and the brewery was custom built by Stuart. The kit is designed to produce American-style beers and they have been very lucky that they have been able to skip the local pub market and deliver straight to the craft beer bars throughout the UK.

After the initial talk halves of Curious NZ were handed out, this was the same malt bill as the regular Curious but with New Zealand hops, this resulted in a much softer rounded taste compared to the grapefruit-like flavour of the original but then with a massive pithy bitter finish - a great variation!

Following that beer was High Wire, their West Coast Pale Ale. We loved this in bottled form but were in for a real treat when it was served via KeyKeg - it was hazy with a mega fruity taste, superb bitterness,simply wonderful (I loved it so much that once the Meet the Brewer was over I opted for a pint of this over all the other great ales on offer in PSBH - it's awesome!)

Next up was Dark Arts, a 6% stout with a pale malt backbone and topped up with black, amber and brown malts for roastiness and colour. It was lovely, nice roasted flavours, some plummy fruitiness and very smooth. All this from a brewery that's just six months old!

The Queen of the night was brought out next, the first public tasting of Bearded Lady - a 10.5% imperial stout, the big sister of Dark Arts. Heavily dry-hopped with 'the cannon' - a device that can hold between 5-10 kgs of hops, the lady was slowly cycled through Amarillo hops for 3-4 days. It had massive coffee aromas, and tasted of sweet dark coffee with a hint of booze but it was hiding the 10+% very well. I can't wait to try this in bottled form...

We stayed around after the official meet the brewer ended, chatting with Rich and Stu from Magic Rock as well as talking to some fellow beer lovers (esp. @Filrd and @Jamesbwxm) that I know from Twitter. I got to try De Molen's Vuur & Vlam which was awesome as well as a few others that I can't remember.

Port Street Beer House is a wonderful craft ale bar, within easy walking distance from Manchester Piccadilly - a must-visit bar when you are next in Manc!

Paul from Source Deli and an angry Baron

Looking forward to baron rating Stonehouse ales

We recently audio reviewed Stonehouse's KPA - a bottle-conditioned ale that we picked up when we judged at the SIBA Wales & West competition.

We thought that the beer was very nice but the excessive sediment in the bottle was off-putting. Stonehouse got in touch with me and said that what we experienced wasn't normal and so would send through another bottle of KPA.

I'm always happy to re-rate a beer especially if we downgraded it due to it's condition. Stonehouse went above and beyond and sent their whole bottled line-up through for review:

Stonehouse Brewery

• Cambrian Gold - 4.2% deep golden fruity beer with a subtle dry finish
• KPA - 4.6% crisp pale ale made with Green Bullet hops from New Zealand
• Off The Rails - 4.8% rich & malty premium bitter with a classic British hop flavour
• Station Bitter - 3.9% hoppy, fruity yet full bodied bitter
• Wheeltappers -  4.5% refreshing golden wheat beer with hints of coriander & lemon zest

Look out for 'baron ratings' for these Stonehouse Brewery beers soon, and a big thank you to@StonehouseBeer for sending these through to me!

Northcote Jiggle Juice

Northcote Jiggle Juice [baron rating 4/5] - 5.8% gold ale,toffee apples smell,soft tropical spicy bitter taste,spicy fruity bitter finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Thank you to  Jenni (@NorthcoteBeers) from Northcote Brewery for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Northcote ales direct

Quantock White Hind

Quantock White Hind [baron rating 4/5] - 4.5% amber ale,sweet slight vanilla smell,sweet caramel sultana taste,long fruity bitter finish Baron Orm

Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Thank you to Paul Kruzycki from Ales By Mail for sending this through for a 'baron rating'!

Buy Quantock ales from Ales By Mail

Bear Republic Racer 5

Bear Republic Racer 5 [baron rating 5/5] - 7% copper IPA,resin citrus mango smell,tropical sweet pine resin taste,fruity resinous finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

Note: Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Thank you to @PintsAndPanels from PintsAndPanels for sending this over for a 'baron rating'!

If you fancy some cartoon-style reviews of beers then make sure you check out the PintsAndPanels website.

Mr Trotter's Great British Pork Crackling review

A couple of weeks ago I was sent a packet of Mr Trotter's Great British Pork Crackling, the packet looked nice but were they any good? Take a listen to find out! Listen to what Chris and the Baron have to say about it.

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Thank you to Julie from R&R Teamwork for sending them through to me!

Buy Mr. Trotter's from Selfridges

Meantime London Pale Ale

Not bottle conditioned

It's got a lovely new look!

Meantime London Pale Ale [baron rating 4/5] - 4.3% copper ale,mild spicy citrus smell,crisp zingy citrus taste,dry bitter clementine finish Baron Orm

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

Download flash to hear the audio review

Subscribe in iTunes

This was part of the autumn pack of the superb '52 week beer club' by myBrewerytap.

Join it now and make sure you say the baron made me do it!

Buy Meantime ales from myBrewerytap