Southport Old Shrimper

Southport Old Shrimper [baron rating 4/5] - this 5.5% dark ale has a roasted chocolate smell,smooth sweet fruity malt taste & a sweet finish

Thwaites Thoroughbred Gold

Thwaites Thoroughbred Gold [baron rating 4/5] - this 4% ale has a citrus aroma, a smooth citrus & floral taste & slight floral bitter finish

Broughton Merlin's Ale

Broughton Merlin's Ale [baron rating 4/5] - this 4.2% copper ale has a fresh hops smell, crisp light hoppy taste & gentle bitter finish

Buy Broughton ales here

Tasty Lytham Gold ale in The Five Ways (Ormskirk)

Tried a very tasty pint of Lytham Gold tonight in The Five Ways pub/restaurant (Ormskirk),this 4.2% gold ale was crisp & hoppy - very nice!

Great St Austell Proper Job in the Queens Head (Ormskirk)

Had a few excellent pints of St Austell Proper Job last night in the Queens Head pub (Ormskirk), didn't try anything else it was that good!

M&S (Batemans) Lincolnshire Best Bitter

M&S (Batemans) Lincolnshire Best Bitter [baron rating 3/5] - this 4.9% amber ale has a malty smell, a sweet malty taste & bitter finish

myBrewerytap's 52 week beer club - first impresssions

After reading a number of blog posts about myBrewerytap's 52 week beer club, 'we' (Chris Routledge & I) signed up a few weeks ago, and the first quarter's batch arrived today.

Before I get to the photos & details of the pack I want to say how impressed I was with the delivery and packaging - the whole box arrived completely unmarked and from following other twitterers it appears that we ALL received it on the same day! That's quite some service!

The well-packaged ale comes with tasting notes as well:

Last quarter I believe it shipped with a glass and bottle opener, this time it came with a 'myBrewerytap' glass, packet of spicy Yorkshire crisps & some 'Dirty Vicar' cheese!

Here are the first six beers:

• Atlantic Red

• Wensleydale Gamekeeper

• Quartz Blonde

• Dent Aviator

• Leyden Raglan Sleeve

• Best Mates Midsummer Madness
  

Here are the next seven:

• Sam Brook's Wandle

• Bitter End Lakeland Golden

• Three Castles Saxon Archer
  

• Leatherbritches CAD

• Penlon Cardi Bay

• Sadler's Thin Ice

• Stroud Budding
  

Now all Chris & I have to do is set a date to start sampling & 'baron rating' them!

For full details of the 52 week beer club, check out the myBrewerytap.com website

Re-rating of Black Sheep Holy Grail

I rated Black Sheep Holy Grail in November but after re-trying it I'm upgrading it to a [baron rating 5/5] - crisp & hoppy, very drinkable!

Final round-up of the Batemans Baron Ratings

As you may be aware, Batemans Brewery very kindly sent me a bottle of most of their range to receive a 'Baron Rating', now that I've consumed them all, here are the final scores:

• Batemans Autumn Fall [baron rating 4/5]
  

• Batemans Combined Harvest [baron rating 3/5]

• Batemans Dark Lord [baron rating 4/5]
  

• Batemans Summer Swallow [baron rating 1/5]
  

• Batemans Triple XB (XXXB) [baron rating 4/5]
  

• Batemans Victory Ale [baron rating 3/5]
  

I would like to say a big thank you to Batemans Brewery for their generosity, they do brew some very fine beers!

Amazing selection of discounted ales in Booths (Windermere)

The Duke of Windermere did a bit of ale shopping for me in his local Booths (Windermere) earlier in the week and I collected them last night.  These twelve diverse bottles were all £1 each!

I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into these soon as I've not 'baron rated' most of them before (I've had the Cains FA [baron rating 4/5] before). I also picked up these two as well (the Williams Gold was £1.32 and the Black Sheep Holy Grail [baron rating 4/5] was £1.29):

Now my beer collection is looking rather full!

Batemans Dark Lord

Batemans Dark Lord [baron rating 4/5] - this 5% dark ruby ale has a malty smell, smooth sweet malt & bitter taste & gentle sweet malt finish

Buy Batemans ales here

Re-rating of Hook Norton Old Hooky

I rated Hook Norton Old Hooky back in November but after re-rating it tonight I'm upgrading it to a [baron rating 4/5] - tasty & drinkable!

Lovely Batemans Rosey Nosey in the Queens Head (Ormskirk)

Had some very enjoyable pints of Batemans Rosey Nosey in the Queens Head pub in Ormskirk, lovely winter brew,better on tap than bottled[3/5]

Good turnout for the Ormskirk TweetUp

Had a great evening in the Queens Head pub with @Mister_Roy,@procrastinatrix,@MikeNolan,@Christopher_R,@BickerRecord,Paul & Matt from Source

Re-rating of Batemans Summer Swallow

I rated Batemans Summer Swallow [baron rating 1/5] back in August and my rating unfortunately still stands, too sweet & floral for the Baron

Buy Batemans ales here