Opposite, with one side to the road and the other to the lane, was The Plough. Old Jim who ran it was an irritable character, reminiscent of a grumpy adult from a Roald Dahl book. He even looked like he’d been hand drawn by Quentin Blake, all crooked lines and scruffily shaded in. Jim brewed himself (not a beer I would part with hard earned cash for!) and held a beer festival of sorts each year. The pub had no telly, a few handpulls and served food on tables built from ancient Singer sewing machines.

Less than a very short stones throw away was the pub I spent most time in, The Bakers (officially The Bakers Arms). I played for the pool team, had a brief stint behind the bar for a few months and learnt to play 3s and 5s with Mo the landlady. The bar was small, with an even smaller lounge to one side and down a hall a smaller again pool room. Atleast 3 Leeds fans frequented it and whilst the beer was all kegged big brand brews, there was one handpull (Hooky or a cask from one of the larger national breweries). I learned to drink with John Smiths smooth, Snakebite & Black (or Diesel if you prefer) and cold, crisp Carling –  valuable lessons for my first weeks at university.

There were weeks I’d not step in The Plough or the Jockey at all, and then days where I’d do all three. Each one was different and each one had different regulars. Each one also had drinkers who went through stages of favouritism and all had odd deserters who jumped ship from time to time. Each pub was needed and they are all still there, open for lunch and evenings where possible.

I returned this Christmas. Popping up the Bakers I bumped into two old friends within seconds. The sports teams still compete all through the week: darts, pool, dominoes, Aunt Sally in the summer and a weekly quiz. I spotted Scott, the pool team captain, still popping in for an after work pint. Mo, since retired, was starting up dominoes in the corner. Hannah was behind the bar. I nipped to The Plough with my Dad.  Surprisingly they’d invested in a single flat screen tv in the bar area and dolled up the lounge, it almost looked like a restaurant. Jim had handed over to his son and possibly even someone else since but no-one quite knew.

These pubs are real pubs. Community pubs. They don’t make huge margins on beer sales, no matter how its served or what brand it is. They feed the local football team on a Saturday, they play cards on a Friday; people go there for warmth, to imbibe and to leave the day or the week behind.

These pubs won’t win a CAMRA award. But they are the most important community centres in the area they serve.

Badger Golden Glory, Thwaites Wainwright, Everard's Tiger and Black Sheep - 4 great beers for £5.50

On Sarah’s request I popped in straight off the bus on Tuesday night for some naan bread and as I headed from checkout to door I couldn’t help but be drawn towards the beer and wines section (our Morrison’s is one of those odd divisive ones with a separate alcohol area fenced off from the main supermarket floor).

First off I was impressed with their range and I was overcome with an urge to try old favourites and classic British beers. Thai green chicken curry was on the menu which called for something a little exotic, plus I needed a pick me up after an arduous day at the office: a refreshing and zingy Golden Champion would do just the trick.

Castle Rock's Harvest Ale nestled next two of the beers Alan and I grew up with

Castle Rock Harvest Pale almost leapt off the shelf so that too went in the basket. Two down, might as well take Morrison’s up on the 4 for £5.50 offer, so after my usual beer aisle procrastination a Titanic Stout and JW Lees Brewer’s Dark joined the party.

Morrison’s has had a long term beer offer for a long while now and 4 for £5.50 isn’t too shabby (although you can grab twice as many tins of Carlsberg for 50p less most of the time). These days our local store has 3 large shelves of beers priced at £1.67, all of which are on the offer. These are dominated by Hall & Woodhouse, Marston’s, Wychwood and Greene King. It seems over the last year a few more regional beers are popping up – Castle Rock, White Horse, Hook Norton and JW Lees this week – which I’d like to see more of.

The top two shelves belong to beers outside the offer, priced almost exclusively at £1.85 or £1.99 and include the likes of Fullers ESB and Vintage Ale, Old Crafty Hen and a handful of regional beers that I guess either command a higher price or would represent lower margins as part of the offer.

Unfortunately I picked up the only beer on the offer shelves that was unmarked, the Brewer’s Dark. I shouldn’t complain – it scanned through the till at a wallet-pleasing M&S-rounded £1 – super. Except that I didn’t notice until I read the ill-printed receipt and only realised I’d made no additional savings on my way to the lottery kiosk (of course the cheaper bottle wasn’t part of the offer).

Cue increasingly exasperated conversation with not one, not two but three of the checkout women who eventually managed to work out that I wanted to grab another beer for an extra £0.49 (an Everard’s Tiger at a nice price!) but that I wasn’t going to pass on the opportunity to try the Brewer’s Gold for less a fraction of the price of a half pint in the city centre.

So despite the kerfuffle it was worth popping my head in the beer aisle, 5.99 for 5 bottles in the end and some inspiration for catching up with some of the beers that got me blogging in the first place (but not until the bank balance looks a bit healthier!)

RULE #3: You must drink at least two servings of a beer before you pass judgment on it (Appellation Beer) - as such Ringwood's Old Thumper will be getting a second chance! Plus going to try Moonraker and refamiliarise with some of the London classics

Purity Ale gift pack

WARNING: these gift suggestions are not (I repeat not!) suitable for your beer widow!!!

Purity Ale

First up is Purity Ale’s gift pack which isn’t necessarily a Christmas gift pack. But it is well presented with a fantastically versatile glass and three very good beers, Pure Ubu, Pure Gold and Mad Goose.

Purity's excellent glass

You essentially have a pale, light and amber beer here, all highly drinkable. The Purity branding makes this a really nice gift to wrap up and I doubt you’ll find many complaining about the beer. Mad Goose is popular favourite, a 5% copper ale, but I always find myself drawn back to the mysterious and playful Pure Ubu, a spicy, malty ale that would work equally well on a summer’s evening as it would on Christmas Eve. This is our pick of the lot!

St Peter’s Brewery

With four gift packs to choose from (Golden, G-Free, Organic and Seasonal) you have a little bit of choice from St Peter’s Brewery, each gift pack coming with 2 beers and the magnificent St Peter’s glass, a tall and contemporary piece of glassware you can proudly show off. As it’s Christmas we opted for the Seasonal Pack featuring St Peter’s Ruby Red and Winter Ale.

St Peter's Winter Gift Pack

I like St Peters, I’ve heard them called bland in the past, but if you are buying for a seasoned ale drinker I don’t think you can do much wrong here. The Ruby Red is a really nice spicy affair and perfect for the time of year, whilst the Winter ale is a darker ruby winter warmer, almost mahogany in colour with a more chocolately taste. Both fit the bill for Christmas and look pretty stunning in the glass.

A gift pack was £8 in a shop in York or you can buy 3 for £20 (+p&p) from the St Peter’s website. What we like about these is the variety and the ability to cater for a gluten-free diet or the organically minded. For under a tenner its well presented if a bit pricey for 2 beers.

Milestone Brewery

Sam with Milestone brewerys gift pack

We came across the Milestone Brewery stall at Lincoln Christmas Market and we’ve immediately attracted to the fun looking reindeer inspired beers. With cheesy names and even more embarassing artwork they are the epitome of what I often look to avoid in Christmas beer.

But Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without them so I shrugged off my bah humbags and snapped away as Sam picked up on of their gift packs. Each contained a seemingly random selection of 3 of their Christmas bveers, all named after one of Santa’s twelve reindeer (we’re being deadly serious!)

Sam tells me the first beer  of the pack he cracked open wasn’t much good, hopefully the other two are better. I’m still intrigued to find out what the larger Donner & Blitzen Christmas Cracker beer which came in a 750ml bottle with swing top.

Innis & Gunn

Now for something a bit more daring. Innis & Gunne is a beer that divides the Real Ale Reviews team. I can’t really get on with it, I’m no whiskey drinker, but Sam loves this as a nightcap and reveres the distinctive taste. Their gift pack is good value for money: 3 bottles and a glass for £8 (in Sainsbury’s if you’re lucky) and includes their renowned Innis & Gunne Whiskey Aged Beer, a new Rum Cask Finish Oak Aged Beer and their IPA. The glass is a looker and rounds the pack off nicely.

Innis & Gunne IPA gift set

The rum and whiskey aged beers will satisfy fans of I&G, but I’ve been told by two people that the IPA didn’t live up to expectations – I’ll not comment until I get a taste from Sam. The gift packs drawback is presentation, it’s not the nicest of boxes to unwrap and lacks the premium quality of the Purity and St Peter’s packs from the outside. That said your beer tokens stretch a bit further with this and if you get it right it’ll go down very well indeed. A bit of a risk if you don’t know your beer loving friends tastes but if they like their whiskey and their ale, this could be a winner.

CAMRA ale packs

Boots are selling a CAMRA bottle conditioned box set featuring 3 ales and a CAMRA pint glass. I have to admit to having only tried the Consiton Bluebird of the three bottles, which is a decent enough bitter. We like that there’s a stout in there and but it’s not the most compelling selection of beers in the world. I’d recommend this for a drinker who’s a bottle conditioned aficionado, but if you’re want to make an impact with your gift, something like the Purity will have much more appeal. At £15 it’s the most expensive of the packs as well which doesn’t represent the greatest value for money – although it is in Boot’s 3 for 2 Christmas gift section…

If you do want to support CAMRA but don’t have anything else to buy from Boots I’d head over to BHS who are doing a 4 pack of award winning CAMRA ales for just £7.50. That’s less than £2 a bottle including the O’Hanlon’s stout, Sharp’s Doom Bar, Fuller’s Special London Ale and Ale Mary (the RCH ale not the Leeds Brewery one).

Hook Norton gift packs

Hook Norton Brewery

I’ll be hopefully heading over to Hook Norton brewery over Christmas and I whilst I’ll probably stock up on seasonal ales I might grab a couple of gift packs as presents. 12 Days makes an appropriate seasonal gift whilst you can’t go wrong with buying anyone Old Hooky or Hooky Bitter. They also do polypins, tankards and a Christmas hamper complete with a few bottles of Hooky Twelve Days (although that’s a bit pricier!).

Black Sheep

Black Sheep have two gift packs that are worth a look, each with 2 beers and another pretty stunning glass. You can choose between Black Sheep Ale or Riggwelter, a sweet chestnut ale with hints of liquorice and coffee beans. Very good value at about £7.50 each. Apparently this was spotted in Boots but I can only find it from the brewery now. Keep your eyes peeled as a real treat for a fan!

Williams Brothers heritage ales gift pack

Williams Brothers Heritage Ales

Williams have provided some of my favourite beers this year including their Birds & Bees and 80/- shilling ale. Their historic beer range (of which I’ve tried only seasweed ale Kelpie so far) is available from £6.95 from their Williams online shop and from £8.99  from the Green Welly Stop. A bit late for Christmas we know so if you do see them in any shops I’d take the gamble on these. From what I’ve heard Alba is great and they all sounds exciting to try. For an adventurous beer drinker give it a go!

House of Fraser

There’s a few options at House of Fraser from the fancy looking Carlow gift pack at just over a tenner. I can’t say I know a lot about this Irish brewer or the beers but it looks good and could be a last minute life saver. TheBeerNut stepped in to fill the gap in my knowledge and says Carlow are “stalwarts of Irish craft brewing. The stout’s great, the red’s decent and the wheat beer is pants.” (Apparently all very good on cask and much cheaper over the Irish Sea too). And when TheBeerNut speaks I listen!

House of Fraser also have a nice looking La Trappe beer gift pack with a beautiful glass and a Hogsback ‘Three for all’ gift pack featuring their three staple ales.

Carlow Brewery gift pack at House of Fraser

Hogsback Brewery gift pack

La Trappe beer gift pack

Broughton Ales @ John Lewis

The tasty Broughton ale gift pack of two beers and a nice snifter style glass are £12 at John Lewis but I can’t vouch for it having nice Christmasy gifty packaging unfortunately.

Broughton Organic beer gift pack

M&S beer gift pack

Marks & Spencers

For those of you who are mesmerised by ‘those adverts’ and are crossing the threshold into M&S Simply Food this year, then check out their great new beer range plus this tasty little sampler of continental beers. If you’re buying for someone who’s tastes are  a little more yellow fizz than real ale (not that we don’t treat ourselves once in a while) then this beer gift pack could be a very good pack with a few nice bottles (the Italian beer is brilliant ice cold from the fridge) and a pilsner glass to boot. Yes, the branding is all rip offs of more established European beers but don’t let that stop you!

Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s have a few Guinness packs, a Leffe glass and bottle set and an Old Speckled Hen gift – not hugely remarkable but good if you know a big fan of those beers. They also have a limited edition Christmas ale in a tubular gift box (yeah it’s a bit tacky) but most interesting they’re selling a Cobra beer gift pack complete with beer, glass and a Cobra Good Curry Guide book. All well under a 10 English squids.

Cobra beer gift pack complete with glass and curry guide book at Sainsbury's

Sainsbury's Christmas Ale - is £4 too much when so many quality beers are cheaper?

Thanks to Purity Ale and their PR company, Nicky at R&R and Innis & Gunne, the helpful people at all the shops in York, Lincoln Christmas Market and all the other places we hunted for Christmas beer packs.

Hooky Gold with a new green label

Andy over at Beerreviews.co.uk just posted the first review of the test #beerswap parcel that we exchanged a little while back. In it I packed four fine Oxfordshire (ish) ales including the fantastic Hooky Gold from Hook Norton Brewery.

I didn’t think anything of the Hooky Gold at the time, even admiring it’s shiny green label.

Until last night, when Alan popped over and we were chatting about the blog. We looked over at the original Hooky bottles that used to make up this our blog header, and noticed something odd – there was no Hooky Gold.

But of course there is! Hooky Gold was always in a red label with gold writing. Now the label is green!

When did this occur? How did we not notice?! We don’t mind Hooky, we like the green label, but when and why was it changed?!?!

Does anybody know?

Hooky Gold with a red label on our old beer bottle inspired blog header

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.

Hooky is part of our heritage, despite the fact we now reside in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

We selected the Hook Norton imagery because we had ben collecting one of each of their bottles (including seasonal brews) and had just completed the line up with a couple of Cotswold Lion’s, so it made perfect sense to adorn our new blog with the beers that had planted the seed of our real ale passion.

But from early on we knew they couldn’t stay, we knew we needed something more impartial that represented our independence.

So after collecting bottle tops for a few weeks our first attempt at a new set of header images is live. It’s still never going to be impartial, it’s a bit weighted by the drinks I’ve had recently, but we hope you like it and hope it better represents the breadth of our current beer drinking habits as compared to earlier this year.

Some people have asked us why we love Hook Norton so much when we live in Leeds? To cut a long and boring story short Alan and I were schooled in Banbury, a few miles from the brewery, but after university moved up to my spiritual homeland (I was born a Shayman) of West Yorkshire so I could get an advertising job. Sam, a Leeds boy born and bred is my friend from university (Lincoln) and now fellow season ticket holder at Elland Road.

Following on from last night’s review of Hook Norton Brewery I thought it important to get a review of one of their beers up as soon as possible. Old Hooky is the flagship of Hook Norton Brewery around the country being widely available in many supermarkets as well as most good wine/beer merchants. The very bottle I am drinking was sourced in Morley from ASDA and was on their 3 bottles for £4.00 mix and match deal.

As an aside me and the monkey boy, when we first moved to Morley, experimented with buying every bottle of Old Hooky on the shelf in ASDA whenever we went. Within a month we had a range of five different Hook Norton beers available (More than most shops in Oxfordshire) right here in Yorkshire. Unfortunately the levels of consumption required to continue this selection proved unsustainable.

Right – back to the beer. Old Hooky is not the light, paler type of ale that I typically favour but is one of the beers that I drink most often. This is largely because it’s the most widely available offering from my favourite brewery, but also because it’s a bit of an anomaly in that it’s full bodied, darker flavoured and yet not at all heavy.

Hook Norton advertises this as a ‘fruity’ beer and it is, but not in the light citrus way I think of when I hear that phrase. It comes across dark and fruity like my Nan’s Christmas cake, reminding me of treacle rather than golden syrup, yet slips down just as easy as summer or pale ales. I would recommend trying this beer with a nice steak or a beef stew as it has the body to compete with the meat but will not fill you up and leave you embarrassed with half a plateful of leftovers.

I give this beer to a great many friends as a taster from home and it is always well received with many friends asking me to bring other Hooky varieties up for them to try. For this reason, and because of it’s wide availability and low price in ASDA, I have to rate this as one of the best beers available in Britain today.

We'll tidy up the artwork but for now you get the idea of what it looks like for when you're in ASDA