From Pendle Hill you’ve more chance of seeing Ian Holloway celebrating at Bloomfield Road than coming across any broomsticks or clandestine hurlyburly. And that’s on a cloudy day.

The sandstone plateau does have a slightly spooky aura about it though. Standing proud from the undulating hillside you can imagine a cackling coven of witches peering over the landscape and plotting the demise of their rivals. Especially if you visit during thunder and lightning…

Moorhouse’s Pendle Witches Brew is inherently charming. Perhaps it’s the verve for local legend – not only are the witches still much talked about but the brewery itself has had a somewhat rollercoaster existence – that makes this beer so appealing at the bar and in the local supermarket.

For something conjured up in the cauldrons of witches, Pendle Witches Brew is surprisingly fresh. Citrus fruits and uncooked dough illuminate the nose, and reappear in the washing-up liquid backbone.

Too cold from the fridge initially, it warms and fruity flavours gently emerge – lemon, oranges and caramel; Fuggles hops and Crystal malt (we assume) make it entirely English. It’s pleasantly bitter-sweet, finishing dry in the mouth with a slightly medicinal bitterness, more alkaline than acidic.

I can’t think of a better beer to refresh the body after an excursion atop Pendle Hill. In the comfort of a local pub that caters for weary legs, there’s nothing more appropriate or becoming of the moment. You can call it a type of occasion terroir.

Which sounds like the perfect end to a Sunday summit with friends. You might even see Blackpool Tower on a good day.

Moorhouse

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The last two posts started life as simple beer reviews. I’d just got paid and I headed to the beer aisle for something that I could drink without worrying about. And I was concious that the widely available supermarket beers hadn’t had much coverage recently.

Badger Golden Glory is apparently, absolutely glorious

Somewhere along the line, in the middle of chopping mushrooms for a curry, my ‘I’m not going to think about this one’ beer (Badger Golden Glory) became something different. And led to a little experiment.

I reckon everyone serves their off-trade beers differently. Some sup from a conical pint glass (adorned with a beer festival logo gradually being eroded by alkalescent dishwasher tablets anyone?!), others straight from the bottle and some from a favourite handled pewter amongst other weird and wonderful vessels.

Me, I mix and match, and I been wonder how this effects my tasting notes, and thus perceptions of beers. I’ll happily pour expensive beers into a rounded red wine glass but chuck pilsner into my stolen Urquell glass or stout into a chunky Ikea pint tankard. Invariably the more I care the greater chance of decent and appropriate glassware.

So, here’s a few of my scribbled tasting notes of two beers, each one tasted using three fairly typical serving methods for me: in a handled half pint glass; straight from the bottle; and swilled from a hugely oversized and rotund wine glass. Read the rest of this entry »

Badger Golden Glory is one of the beers that got me into this beer blogging malarkey. Back way when, bored of the canned lagers largely devoid of taste and with a little more disposable income than my university days, me and then house mate Alan were keen to drink something with a bit more taste. We sampled everything the supermarkets had to offer, from local ales to the array of continental lagers.

Somewhere along the way Golden Glory (and Badgers other similar beer Golden Champion) soon became a favourite. It was sweeter with a more palatable taste than most of the beers and was always on form, which made it an easy purchase decision. I’d often pick up a handful of new beers to try and then a risk-free Badger and maybe a St Peters.

Coming back to it now feels a bit full circle. And the good thing is that Golden Glory is still great.

Badger Golden Glory: soft fruit, sweet and bitter

Peaches and melon dominant the nose, you could easily call cherry blossom, kiwis and candy too without fear of sounding pretentious. There’s a bit of an alcohol sting to the first sip, a touch of spice and a bitter finish. Above all this beer is sweet,all floral and fruit overlaid rather than intertwined with a very subtle caramel flavour and a bitter finish.

This is easy to drink from glass or bottle, there’s a zingy kick to it which gives it that little bit more oomph (or umpf?!) over some of it’s competitors on the supermarket shelves. If you like your beer to have aroma and punch then as English ales go you can’t do much worse than this fruity number. Serve slightly chilled for a bit more kick and refreshment on a hot day (you might be waiting a while though!)

Hopback Summer Lightning: a bit of a legend in Beerland

Some beers have a pedestal. Sometimes it’s deserved because they are truly great beers, technically and taste-wise. Some are headliners, built by a cheeky PR campaign or an elaborate story. And some are deserved winners of awards and a place within beery folklore.

Summer Lightning by Hopback falls in the latter category. Back when I was enjoying my third year on this planet and coming to terms with the fact I would soon have a baby brother stealing all of the attention in the Fletcher household, John Gilbert of the newly formed Hopback Brewery was quietly supplying his local beer festival with a special beer for their annual event. He answered their brief not with an amber bitter or a dark mild, but with a golden well-hopped beer. Read the rest of this entry »

Right it was day two of the Super 8′s yesterday in the Twenty20 World cup and England took a good old tonking off the Saffers. Let’s see if we could get our own back by pitting one of own nation’s fine ales against the Cape shandy that Smithy and his boys will have been sitting down to last night.

South African – Castle Lager, 5.0% abv

In to bat first is the South African opener. I had mine ice cold, just how I like my lagers on a warm day, but have to admit that it hasn’t really kept it’s cool under the pressure out in the middle. I like the fact that it was flavoursome and malty for a lager, justifying it’s premium tag. It was, however, a little disappointing in terms of texture. Oddly, because I usually find lager too fizzy, this feels strangely flat in the mouth.

Score (out of 20) – Good opening partnership but a disappointing middle order – 8

Blighty – Extra Special ASDA Golden Ale, 4.5% abv

I purchased this beer in advance, hoping the weather would respect the cricket and allow me a clear crisp evening outside on the patio. It did not. Having said that, the beer is actually maltier that it’s golden appearance suggests and, while it is by no means heavy or dark, it has a sturdier backbone than I was expecting. I would therefore say that it is probably more suited to a crisp springtime evening than the strong midday sun.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with this ale and I expect that it is widely, and relatively cheaply, available through ASDA supermarkets. Certainly it is worth a taste to see if you agree with my opinion that, while it does not have the sweetness and finesse required to find itself on any shortlists for great golden ales, it grinds out a solid win for the English code of the game.

Score (out of 20) – consistently above average throughout without shining, ground out the win – 14