Looking forward to baron rating Ship In A Bottle ales

The Ship In A Bottle is a specialist beer shop in Merseyside selling a range of over 400 products (mostly beer). They've stores in Heswall, West Kirby as well as Whitechapel, Liverpool.

They have a range of own-label beers available all of which are brewed by Liverpool Organic Brewery. I've a lot of respect for Karl at Liverpool Organic so I'm really looking forward to trying these bottles that the Ship In A Bottle sent through for review:

Snazzy looking bottles

Ship In A Bottle

• American Pale Ale - 3.9% light citrus flavoured pale ale,bursting with American cascade hops
• Best Bitter - 4.1% traditional brown bitter,malty & spicy flavoured with British Challenger & Golden(sic?) hops
• Honey Brown Ale - 4.5% mid-bronze ale brewed with wild flower honey

Look out for baron ratings for these Ship In A Bottle beers soon, and a big thank you to @ShipinabottleWK for sending them through to me!

Crate Lager

Not bottle conditioned

Crate Lager [baron rating 4/5] - 4.8% copper beer,floral grassy smell,balanced biscuity bittersweet taste,dry crisp finish Baron Orm

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

Buy Crate ales from Ales By Mail

Harveys Porter

Not bottle conditioned

Harveys Porter [baron rating 5/5] - 4.8% dark brown ale,treacle coffee nutty smell,smooth balanced dark treacle taste,liquorice choc finish Baron Orm

Buy Harveys ales direct and from Quaff

Wincle Sir Philip

Not bottle conditioned

Wincle Sir Philip [baron rating 4/5] - 4.2% amber ale,caramel vanilla smell,balanced sultana caramel biscuity taste,prickly bitter finish Baron Orm

Note: The aroma from this beer took me back to my childhood and reminded me of Caramac - a sugary sweet caramel vanilla flavoured bar. Although the smell was fascinating and pleasing, I'm glad the sugary sweetness didn't carry through into the beer - the body is nicely balanced with only enough caramel sweetness to balance the bitterness.

Buy Wincle ales from Holborn Ales

Hobsons Twisted Spire

Not bottle conditioned

Hobsons Twisted Spire [baron rating 3/5] - 3.6% gold ale,honey floral mild herbal smell,creamy zingy lemon taste,dry mild citrus finish Baron Orm

Buy Hobsons ales from Holborn Ales

Looking forward to baron rating Elland ales

I was first introduced to Elland Brewery by The Ale Room who sent through a bottle of their 1872 Porter for review. We thought it was stunning and it put Elland on my must-rate-more list. I then attended the National Winter Ales Festival where it was judged the beer of the festival and I found the cask version just as amazing.

It came as a great surprise when Martin from Elland called me up yesterday to ask for me address, I had no idea how he even had my phone number! Not that I'm complaining as today three bottles of fine Elland beer arrived at Baron Towers:

Elland Brewery

• 1872 Porter [baron rating 5/5] - 6.5% rich, complex & dark porter from an original 1872 recipe, with an old port nose and coffee and bitter chocolate flavours on the palate. Bottle conditioned for a fresh flavour & natural effervescence
• Amnesia - 5.8% golden coloured special pale ale, bursting with a citrus charged hop aroma and flavours... truely unforgettable!
• Ushuaia - 4.6% golden coloured hoppy IPA style beer with a crisp citrus flavour and aroma. As refreshing and spectacular as the mountains of Ushuaia!

 Look out for baron ratings for these Elland Brewery beers soon, and a big thank you to Martin for sending them through to me!

Looking forward to baron rating Bridestones ales

I've chatted with Bridestones Brewing on a number of occasions on Twitter and nearly met face-to-face at the National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester this year. That didn't happen as they got a sudden order to brew some more beer so that was a pretty decent excuse for a small brewery.

Anyway three solid looking bottles arrived from them today:

Strong bold branding

Bridestones Brewing

• American Pale Ale - 5% premium American influenced golden beer with Chinook, Cascade and Willamette for that big hop taste
• Tohunga - 6.3% premium gold beer, single hopped with New Zealand Kohatu hops which offer a tingly pine flavour with exotic fruit notes
• Winter Warmer - 6%seasonal beer brewed using five different malts, honey, molasses, spices ginger and nutmeg to create a bitter sweet warming winter ale

Look out for 'baron ratings' of these beers soon, and a big thank you to Dan (@BridestonesBeer) from Bridestones Brewing for sending these through to me!

Robinson's Old Tom

Not bottle conditioned

Robinson's Old Tom [baron rating 4/5] - 8.5% dark brown ale,vineous treacle smell,Soreen black currant peppery taste,spicy tart fruit finish Baron Orm

St Bernardus Prior 8

Bottle conditioned with lively loose carbonation

St Bernardus Prior 8 [baron rating 3/5] - 8% dark amber ale,marzipan clove plum cherry smell,berries ground spice taste,tangy fruity finish Baron Orm

Buy St Bernardus ales from Ales By Mail

Erdinger Dunkel

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Erdinger Dunkel [baron rating 4/5] - 5.3% ruby ale,raisin berries clove smell,banana caramel brown bread taste,sweetish bready finish Baron Orm

Rochefort Trappistes 6

Bottle conditioned with fizzy carbonation

Rochefort Trappistes 6 [baron rating 4/5] - 7.5% dark amber ale,raisin prune smell,treacle prune ground spice taste,mild sweet nutmeg finish Baron Orm

La Trappe Blond

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

La Trappe Blond [baron rating 5/5] - 6.5% gold ale,clove pineapple smell,bright refreshing bready spicy orchard taste,dry sharpish finish Baron Orm

Buy La Trappe ales from Booths

Coniston Old Man Ale

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Coniston Old Man Ale [baron rating 4/5] - 4.8% dark amber ale,raisin plum smell,fruitcake nutty classic bitter taste,nutty bitter finish Baron Orm

Buy Coniston ales from Holborn Ales

Bavaria 0.0% Wit

Not bottle conditioned

Bavaria 0.0% Wit [baron rating 3/5] - 0% cloudy gold beer,mild clove banana smell,crisp orange squash taste,slightly cloying citrus finish Baron Orm

Affligem Tripel

Not bottle conditioned

Affligem Tripel [baron rating 5/5] - 9% gold ale,bready funky pear yeasty smell,frothy yeasty brown sugar syrupy appley taste,sweet finish Baron Orm

Buy Affligem ales from Source Deli

Anchor Christmas Ale 2012

Not bottle conditioned

Anchor Christmas Ale 2012 [baron rating 3/5] - 5.5% dark brown ale,cinnamon nutmeg smell,treacle ground spice taste,fruity mild spice finish Baron Orm

Buy Anchor ales from Beers of Europe

Steen Brugge Wit Blanche

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Steen Brugge Wit Blanche [baron rating 4/5] - 5% pale gold ale,clove lemon smell, refreshing light citrus taste,clean fresh finish Baron Orm

Buy Steen Brugge ales from Booths

Coniston Oliver's Light Ale

Not bottle conditioned

Coniston Oliver's Light Ale [baron rating 4/5] - 3.4% gold ale,mild sugary citrus smell,zingy citrus mild bitter taste,light citrus finish Baron Orm

Thank you to Ian Bradley (@ConistonBrewCo) from Coniston Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Coniston ales from Holborn Ales

Harveys Blue Label

Not bottle conditioned

Harveys Blue Label [baron rating 4/5] - 3.6% amber ale,caramel mild peach apricot smell,fruity spicy bitter taste,mild citrus spicy finish Baron Orm

Buy Harveys ales from Quaff

Brüpond Ain'cho Mum's Porter

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Brüpond Ain'cho Mum's Porter [baron rating 2/5] - 4.2% black ale,chilli skin smell,silky bitter choc chilli heat taste,earthy vegetal finish Baron Orm

Note: So what does 'chilli skin smell' mean? You know when you are chopping green chillies and you get that kind of earthy unsweetened vegetal-type smell? It's very distinctive to chillies (in my mind) - I don't like it very much but I do love the taste & 'experience' of chillies

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

Buy Brüpond ales from Ales By Mail

London Fields Unfiltered Lager

Not bottle conditioned

London Fields Unfiltered Lager [baron rating 3/5] - 4.3% gold beer,herbal savoury smell,honey grassy herbal taste,astringent bitter finishBaron Orm

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

Buy London Fields ales from Ales By Mail

Old Dominion Hop Mountain

Not bottle conditioned

Old Dominion Hop Mountain [baron rating 4/5] - 6.6% amber ale,floral savoury smell,sweet caramel oily tropical taste,dry fruity finish Baron Orm

Note: It's not a hop mountain by any stretch of the imagination, a perfect fine pale ale but not even a hop hill...

Thank you to Gemma (@SlurpBeer) from Slurp for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Old Dominion ales from Slurp

Rocky Head Pale Ale

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Rocky Head Pale Ale [baron rating 5/5] - 6.5% copper ale,sugary orange tropical smell,syrupy big fruity taste,resinous soft bitter finish Baron Orm

Note: This is one of the most drinkable 6.5% beers I've ever tried, it's utterly delicious and hides the ABV very well. It's full of flavour and I demolished it in a matter of minutes. This is a beer to be drunk by the case - awesome job Rocky Head!

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

Buy Rocky Head ales from Ales By Mail

St Peter's English Lager

Not bottle conditioned

St Peter's English Lager [baron rating 3/5] - 5.2% gold beer,earthy caramel smell,cloying sweet earthy taste,mild herbal biscuity finish Baron Orm

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

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Coniston Original India Pale Ale

Not bottle conditioned

Coniston Original India Pale Ale [baron rating 5/5] - 6% copper ale,floral peachy smell,balanced fruity bitter taste,fading tropical finish Baron Orm

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

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Thank you to Ian Bradley (@ConistonBrewCo) from Coniston Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Coniston ales from Holborn Ales

Old Dominion Oak Barrel Stout

Not bottle conditioned

Old Dominion Oak Barrel Stout [baron rating 4/5] - 6.1% black ale,smoky espresso smell,slight berry mild roasted taste,oaky vanilla finish Baron Orm

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

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Thank you to Gemma (@SlurpBeer) from Slurp for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Old Dominion ales from Slurp

Salopian Shropshire Gold

Not bottle conditioned

Salopian Shropshire Gold [baron rating 3/5] - 3.8% gold ale,earthy mild citrus smell,thin satsuma peppery taste,green leafy bitter finish Baron Orm

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

Subscribe in iTunes

Thank you to Jake (@SalopianBrewery) from Salopian Brewery for sending this through for a baron rating!

Buy Salopian ales from Holborn Ales

Beavertown Black Betty

Bottle conditioned with perfect carbonation

Beavertown Black Betty [baron rating 5/5] - 7.2% black ale,fresh green hops smell,velvety dark choc mousse taste,long bitter espresso finish Baron Orm

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

Subscribe in iTunes

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

Buy Beavertown ales from Ales By Mail

Ormskirk's great new bar: The Hop Inn Bier Shoppe

Ormskirk finally has somewhere good to enjoy a few beers, the brand new Hop Inn Bier Shoppe on Burscough Street right in the middle of the town centre. Owned by the same people who run the very popular The Hop Vine pub in Burscough and who also run the Burscough Brewing Company, it's been open just two weeks and has proven very popular with the local people.

Looks great from the outside, even better on the inside!

I've visited it twice so far, once on it's opening night where it was absolutely rammed, and also the Thursday just before Easter where it was also extremely busy - a great sign for a bar trying to do something a little different than be 'just another pub'. They have seating down one side of the bar and a standing area on the other, the seated side also houses the display cabinets of the different bottled beers available.

Bottled beers on display & comfy seating

The bar, 3 cask, 6 keg & loads of Belgium bottles

Baron & Source Deli Paul browsing the beer menu

They have three cask handpulls serving local ales, including their own Burscough ales, along with George Wright on the opening night, and Wilson Potter last Thursday. They also have a 6-way keg font serving Hop Inn German Lager, Warsteiner Lager, Paulaner wheat beer, Chimay tripel, Flensburger & Küppers Kölsch. They also have well over 50 different Belgium bottled beers as well as wine and spirits.


The bottled beers are highlighted in a well-produced beer menu, with tasting notes, ABV and general details about the beers. This along with well-informed staff means that there were always plenty of empty bottles of Belgium beer on the tables, something I was quite astounded to see in Ormskirk!

Fancy beer in Ormskirk? Are you sure?

The appropriate glassware is also present which is a quality touch, the last thing you want is to be drinking a strong Belgian beer from a half-pint nonic glass. Prices are very reasonable with the cask ales around the £2.50-£3 a pint mark, some of the imported strong large bottles can be quite expensive, but there is a whole range of choices in between.

It's an excellent bar and a very welcome change from the rather tired pubs in the town centre. Now there's a place for the beer drinker who's looking for something a bit different than standard lager or 4% brown beer.

I wish Will & his staff the best of luck, it's the only place in Ormskirk that I plan from now on to be drinking in!

Will McCombe (landlord, Hop Inn Bier Shoppe), Mike McCombe (landlord, The Hop Vine) & Andy Brocken (Burscough Brewery)