On Ilkley Moor: one with hat, one without hat

If you read about my special beer night a few weeks ago, you might remember that my usually varied and brimming beer cupboard was running a bit low, with only a few beers left, most of them bottles I was saving.

So with pay day just gone it was time for a stock up, so the weekend just gone I nipped to Ilkley for a few hours out on the moor with Sam Lanes, stopping at Booth’s supermarket on the way before a quick wallet burning session in Beer Ritz.

I’d gone with the intention of stocking up on pale ales, it’s been a while since I had any staple favourites in and I fancied some strong hoppy numbers, the likes of Halcyon, EIPA, Goose Island, St Lupulin and co. But I ended up leaving with a surprisingly English ale selection, as the Booths stock was very focussed on Northern numbers and I got distracted at Beer Ritz by  a few ‘new ins’.

Beers from Booths

Booths has a good selection of ales, although nothing was really grabbing my attention at first. After a few minutes scanning the vast array of brown bottles I picked up a Williams tayberry beer which I remember being good, a Joseph Holt as not only was I tempted by the Lowry label and because 1849 Champion had been good.

A few people had told me to try Chalky’s Bite, whilst I couldn’t resist a beer local brews (thinking a bit ahead of myself for beer swap round 2?!) particularly Withens IPA which I (think) I tried at Keighley & Worth Valley festival at Oxenhope. Read the rest of this entry »

Beer Swap Parcel Safely Delivered After Week Long Custody Battle

After 7 days and approximately 4 and a half hours Mark Fletcher of Morley, West Yorkshire was united with his #beerswap package. A tumultuous week has seen the parcel reprimanded in the custody of Mr Fletcher’s local collect+ agent against its will, and with the 4th December beer swap deadline fast approaching time looked like it was running out for the beers to fulfil their destiny.

Free at last! Beer Swap beers arrive safely in West Yorkshire

The last few days have seen negotiations bear no fruit, with numerous emails and phone calls exchanged between collect+, Mr Fletcher and the local newsagent.

But at just before 17:00 hours WYT (West Yorkshire Time) on Sunday, the frustrating situation was suddenly diffused as after the realisation that there was a really dead simple solution and it just needed a different button pressing on the collect+ terminal (or something like that anyway) to sort the whole debacle out.

Witnesses remarked that the beers seemed in ‘good shape’ despite rumours they’d been kept in ‘warmer than usual conditions’ near the stores EPOS system.

Safely home in the confines of Mr Fletcher’s living room, four Oxfordshire ales are said to be standing proudly surveying their final destination.

Read the rest of this entry »

I picked up two bottles of this 4.2% bottle conditioned offering from S H Jones Wine Merchants when back in Banbury a couple of months  ago. I was excited when I saw it because I am actually from Cropredy, growing up on a farm outside the small North Oxfordshire village in which the famous 1644 battle took place. As a primary school student I remember going around to Cropredy Village Church to see the bloodstain on the vestry floor said to be of the Roundhead messenger who fled the battlefield. With childhood memories like that floating around like the sediment in a recently disturbed bottle it is no wonder that I really, really wanted to like this beer.

Cropredy Bridge 1644 - the good bottle

You will understand then that I was completely wounded upon opening my first bottle of Cropredy Bridge 1644 to find that I had purchased a beer that tasted of…surely not…oh…it can’t be…yes…this beer tastes of STILTON!!!!! Fortunately I had got the two bottles and was able to find out that the Stilton vibe was purely the result of an unfortunately selected ‘off’ bottle.

The the second time of asking this Cherwell Valley Brewery ale was a huge amount more pleasing (well it didn’t taste of cheese so that was a plus right off the middle of the bat). I had it well rested but it was still a touch cloudy with what I would call a very real body. In fact I would say it is a very down to earth ale in all respects. It is not very hoppy but has the less aggressive flavour similar to local cask ales such as Hooky Bitter.

For the Real real alers out there this beer doesn’t have the hopiness or fruitiness to be turning any heads. Having said that, as a guy who  grew up in the village that insspired it, I can honestly say that this beer does conjure up the flavours of a place, of a summer afternoon outside the Brasenose Pub, of a Winter’s evening in Geoff Wheeler’s kitchen. For me this beer captures Cropredy, or maybe that’s just the opinion of someone living a long way from home.

Jack in a Box?????

It is with great pleasure that I can announce that at least one of the Real Ale Reviews boys has taken full delivery of his Beer Swap beers.

I think I Might Have A Glass Of Beer tonight but it won’t be on my Beer Swap partner Robbie because I am going to let these settle so that my tasting does them full justice.

Some Teasing Clues as to What was in the Box

I am not going to tell you exactly which beers Robbie has selected for me but will let you have these pictorial clues (and the big one below will hardly take Sherlock Holmes). The best news for me was that Robbie has included a bottle of his own Home Brew Porter for me to try. LEGEND. I love the home brew, as my slightly emotional post about my Uncle’s wine might suggest. Robbie’s local selection looks very nice but to be honest his Home Brew excites me most.

My Beer Swap Receipts

So there it is, the little box of tricks specially selected for me (makes me feel all warm inside – although that could be the bottles of Old Hooky I’ve had tonight!). I cannot wait to get started and have my reviews of these little fellas up…….watch this space!!!!

A big beer day

Some days just seem to have everything. Big stories, ferocious debate and your own personal news. Such as yesterday…

In the news, BrewDog pulled another stunt, this one making me laugh out loud and actually consider parting with some of my hard earned cash.

Tactical Nuclear Penguin takes beer naming conventions to a new level and pushes the boundaries of beer production. Whether or not it’s any good I might never know (I’m hoping the other Real Ale Reviews lads will chip in for a bottle as I don’t think I can justify getting one just for myself). But thanks to James and Martin for dressing up in silly costumes and brightening up the beer world for a morning.

Smoking ban - what is the real effect on pubs? Photo by wsogmm

And to the ferocious debate: Is smoking cool? Smoking may look cool when Paul Newman is hustling and Jean-Paul Belmondo is ambling through Parisian streets but it ain’t always cool when you’re trying to eat your tea or sip a pint (or stand at the bus stop on a windy day folks!). There’s a serious health side to still as well as questions of economy and heritage: will the smoking ban contribute to killing traditional pubs off once and for all?

Who knows, I can understand both sides of the argument – I smoked for a 3 or 4 years from the age of 17, giving up when I went to uni (yes, I know it’s weird that way round) – and I can’t stand the smell now. And I much prefer my clothes not reeking of stale smoke the morning after a night out. But I don’t hate smokers or smoking, I respect people’s choice to do it, and I appreciate smokers who are considerate of non-smokers (just like I appreciate drinkers who don’t smash my wing mirrors off and people who are generally nice). I sure hope that the country is a bit healthier because of the ban – but how can we ensure that it doesn’t impact negatively on our pub culture and people’s personal freedoms?

It’s a debate I almost don’t want to get too involved in as I don’t have the solution, and judging from other posts I’m not sure a unilateral agreement is on the cards! So moving swiftly on…

And then in personal news, we had some unexpected success last night, as Real Ale Reviews were awarded not one, but two commendations in the inaugural Golden Twit awards organised by The Drum magazine… Read the rest of this entry »

Serving beer (Wikipedia)

Last week saw a host of articles on lager, CAMRA and why the two don’t always have a harmonious relationship (see articles by Barm, Mark Dredge, Woolpack Dave, Tandleman & The Guardian).

The same week r’ Sam couldn’t quite work out if William’s Brothers Grozet was a lager or a beer, with conflicting online reviews and it being deceptively lager like for an ale.

It’s fitting that the lager debate and lots of lager chat surfaced on the week we unearthed a parody of our sites, real-lager-reviews.com, and actually the Guardian article that kicked much of this off was one of the ways we cottoned onto our spoofers (thanks to an innocuous comment on there by the Real Lager Reviews lads).

It seems the question of lager brings up some awkward discussions. CAMRA clearly don’t associate themselves with CO2, which rules out a lot of lagers, but it doesn’t fundamentally rule out lager per se.

Which leads us to what is a lager: what it is and why is it different? Read the rest of this entry »

Before I go any further, this review is only half a review of Allgates Portersque. In fact it’s a review of my tasting notes from memory, so as a beer review it can be taken with a pinch of salt!

I’ve really enjoyed writing this belated series on the 2009 Sainsbury’s Beer Competition, and I’m hoping that there will be a few people eager to find out which beer we think deserved to win the contest. Anywhere, on with the story…

For my birthday my girlfriend bought me a Moleskine notebook, one of the smaller sized ones that just about fits in the back pocket of Levi’s and is covered in thick black leather.

It sat unused whilst I filled up other pads and scraps of paper with the types of daily notes that I sometimes like to jot down, lists that never get completed and what not. And then I started writing intensely about beer for this blog, having a few bottles of ale a week and penning simple tasting notes. At last I had the perfect use for my overpriced notebook and quickly got to work copying into it my beer notes across from the back of receipts and various other cleverly recycled artefacts (I got most done one productive afternoon on holiday this year whilst sipping on Mythos!)

The Moleskine Affair: beer reviews are easier if you actually write them in the notebook

It’s been a life saver really, it even has a small filing section at the back for storing any notes that I still scribble onto post-its or the back of used envelopes, for copying up at a later date.

But every now and then one slips through the net. I flick through the pages searching for that beer that I know I’ve drunk but just can’t remember enough about to write up from memory, and it’s not there, nowhere to be found. On this occasion the beer is All Gates Porteresque. Read the rest of this entry »

A few chaps from my office have just got back from a 3 day trip to Amsterdam. While they were there they had the option of partaking in a number of activities that it would not be socially accceptable for them to do at home in the UK (and at this stage I should point out that I’m not saying that any of them necessarily did so). In a way this is very close to the attitude that has developed in this country to binge drinking, with Saturday nights (or equivalent) written off and designated as times, like weekends in Amsterdam, when one can behave however they want without fear of repercussion.

I imagine that very little thought is given by touring Brits to the repurcussions of their actions in Amstersdam yet the legality of these actions does not necessarily mean that they are not without victims. There will be very few young girls, in Holland or any country, growing up with the aspiration of becoming a prostitute. Rather they are victims of circumstance. Similarly a great number of people every weekend in the UK ‘binge drink’ with very little regard for themselves or the people they come into contact with. The vast majority of these events go unreported.

Every now and then we hear of something so extreme as that the perpetrator is held to account. A recent example is the Hallam student who woke up to find that he had urinated on a War Memorial. As a member of Hull University Hockey Club I could have been found twice a week for three years waking up with very little knowledge of how I’d got to where I was and frankly with only good luck and good friends away from probably being in court myself. I’m sure many can say the same. I believe it’s customary for people looking back on such times to say that they wouldn’t change a thing but I can assure you that there is plenty I would change and, with honest eyes, most people would admit to wishing they had ‘just had one less’ on at least one occassion.

How is this little essay (and it is an essay!) related to Real Ales Reviews? Well yesterday I read the following article in the Metro…

Binge Drinking Survey Published in the Metro 23 Nov 2009

Under a very familiar looking headline the British obsession with binge drinking is once again ‘evidenced’. I am going to highlight 12 words from the article that purely astounded me.   Read the rest of this entry »

It all started with an off the cuff comment on Twitter (as so much does these days!). I mentioned on my personal twitter account that I had ‘some cracking beers in’ but wasn’t really in the mood for sitting with pencil and notebook. Not that I don’t enjoy sitting with an artisan beer disecting all of the tastes and fancy words I can conjure up, but I simply wanted to forget all that and just get lost in the beer.

Because I was contemplating some fantastic beers that I’d been waiting to open for some time. These were beers I’d heard about, read about and almost dreamed about opening.

Paradox Isle of Arran pours very, very dark

A few other beer bloggers wearily heading back from beer festivals and Scoop singing the praises of BrewDog’s RipTide I headed for the beer cupboard but all I really wanted were my staple favourites to drink, beers I can always fall back on as discussed in my post on emergency beers – a Goose Island Honkers, a Brooklyn Lager and a Peroni Gran Reserva were exactly what I needed. But with encouragement from other beer tweeps and Reluctant I crumbled! Read the rest of this entry »

Our little beer reviews blog with it's original Hook Norton bottle header image

This weekend we replaced the header image on the blog, and with some sadness said goodbye to the Hook Norton bottles that have been the face of Real Ale Reviews since it’s inception.

A few people have asked us over the last few months if we were sponsored by Hook Norton or were we promoting them.

The answer is no, but I’ll be the first to admit that Real Ale Reviews will happily sing the praises of our local Oxfordshire brewery.

Alan and I started this site whilst sipping Old Hooky, we’ve shared evenings playing pool and drinking Hooky Bitter in the brewery’s own pubs, and have many years ago toured the old Victorian steam brewery as part of a school trip. Read the rest of this entry »