Cornish Ales

We are now back from the US and after a quick turnaround in Brighton, a night in Shoreham and a flying visit to Suffolk we spent our second night back in blighty at a pub with rooms in Newbury (halfway point between Suffolk and Bude). It was here that I tried the very good Wadworth Horizon. A light golden ale, very summery with a good flavour and a light hoppiness, a 4 out of 5. The next day we carried on our journey to stay with some friends in Bude, Cornwall. They recommended a shop called North Coast Wines in Bude for a great selection of Cornish Ales. After a very long browse round this great shop I chose 4. The first was a beer made by the Keltek brewery in Redruth and sold in aid of the campaign to save Bude's sea pool. It's called SOS Save Our Seapool. At 4% it was fairly easy drinking, not unpleasant but not much in the way of flavour, 2.5 out of 5. I tried another of their beers, Natural Magik at 4.5%. This was a vegan beer so hadn't used any fish derived finings and was true to natural methods of beer making. Again a nice enough beer but not a huge amount of flavour. Nice idea though so 3/5.

I'm a big fan of Skinners beers from Truro so I thought i'd try their new Skin Dog lager - an après surf beer apparently, 4.4%. A good flavoursome lager with a reasonable hoppiness but not as good as some of the American versions of this type of beer which, given the packaging of this beer, I'm guessing they are trying to emulate.

The final one of the 4 and the best was Badlands Bitter from Driftwood Spars Brewery in St Agnes. Absolutely top notch. A lovely dark bitter with sweetness then the roasted almost coffee flavour followed with a decent but not overpowering hoppy bitterness then lasting sweetness. A thing of beauty. 5 out of 5!

From Bude it was in to a little village outside Helston in Cornwall. The New Inn in the village provided me with my Rugby World Cup beer of choice (if only the matches weren't being played at 7am). Skinners have done Splendid Tackle for the rugby and it's perfect. Light golden in colour, just over 4%, a proper yummy beer that you can happily sip through the matches. 5/5!

As I was near Truro it would have seemed rude not to pop into the Skinners brewery. I have tried all their beers before so I went for some other breweries beers. Another Driftwood Spars beer and a mild with a label that had been printed on someone's old home printer. I love a mild so was excited about this one. But although it was in date it was off, that lemony sour off taste. Very unfortunate. So then I tried the Driftwood Spars - off again. I was so disappointed after drinking the nectar that was their bitter. I'm thinking that Skinners are sabotaging the other breweries beers so theirs seem better? I also took a chance on a very odd sounding beer. It was new in (so not enough time for it to go off fortunately), a pale ale flavoured with lime, chilli and ginger. I reckoned that it would either be lovely or absolutely appalling. Well.... it was lovely



Beer: organic golden pale ale with lime, chilli and ginger
Brewer: Atlantic brewery, Newquay
Country trying in: UK
Town trying in: Wendron, Cornwall
Where purchased: Skinners brewery, Truro
Date tasted: 7/9/11
Package type: clear bottle
Best before date: may 12
Size: 330 ml
Alcohol by volume: 5.5%
Tasting temperature: chilled

Appearance: cloudy, straw coloured

Aroma: citrus lime and light hops

Flavour: starts gingery with a lime citrus refreshing taste, then a light bitter hoppiness and then finishes with warm chilli

Overall impression: surprisingly lovely. I had anticipated over flavoured nastiness but the flavours were all very subtle and complemented the beer as a whole. Really good.

Rating out of 5: 5

Next stop is the Isles of Scilly for more Cornish brews and their very own Ales of Scilly.

Beer tasting through earthquakes and hurricanes

Bring on the earthquakes, the hurricanes, whatever you can throw - nothing will stop this intrepid beer reviewer. So here I sit watching the effects of the hurricane writing the beer blog. I've got a bit behind with the blog as I have been thoroughly engrossed in 'gone with the wind' which I've been reading. I finished it yesterday so can return to the blog. I have tried a number over the last week without having my beer review template to hand so soe may not get the full description an review they deserve. However, I hope you'll get the idea. So to the first beer. The Landshark lager - apparently from the Budweiser stable. It turns out that when it came to making Landshark they had run out of hops, barley and yeast so they just mixed fizzy water, sugar, added a bit of colouring and, voila Landshark lager - a very generous 1 out of 5. So returning home from dinner where I had the Landshark I thought I needed something with a bit more oomph so I decided now was the time to try the 4th and final beer from the sierra Nevada beer camp case, the Juniper black ale

Beer: Juniper black ale
Brewer: Sierra Nevada
Country trying in: USA
Town trying in: Arnold
Where purchased:
Date tasted:
Package type: brown bottle
Best before date: ?
Size: 12 fl oz
Alcohol by volume: 8%
Tasting temperature: chilled

Appearance: black, light bubble rise

Aroma: slight citrus, chocolate and coffee

Flavour: slight sweetness and chocolate then coffee then really heavy hoppy bitterness into more coffee

Overall impression: again a really clever beer but the hoppiness and alcohol level were just too much for me

Rating out of 5: 3.5

After the devastatingly weak to the formidably strong I thought something in between might be better so later in the week I started on the mixed 6 pack I got in Annapolis. I began with the Ubu ale

Beer: Ubu ale
Brewer: Lake Placid craft brewery
Country trying in: USA
Town trying in: Arnold
Where purchased:
Date tasted:
Package type: brown bottle
Best before date: ?
Size: 12 fl oz
Alcohol by volume: ?
Tasting temperature: chilled

Appearance: dark red with light bubble rise

Aroma: sweet honey and apricot

Flavour: mild astringency then honey and mellow bitterness followed by a lasting sweetness

Overall impression: pretty good ale - described on the bottle as an English style bitter and it is, sort of, I guess. English style in the Dick van dyke in Mary poppins English style.

Rating out of 5: 3.5

Over the week I also tried the rest...

Beer: longboard island lager
Brewer: kona brewery, Portsmouth, NH
Country trying in: USA
Town trying in: Arnold
Where purchased:
Date tasted:
Package type: Brown bottle
Best before date: ?
Size: 12 fl oz
Alcohol by volume: ?
Tasting temperature: chilled

Appearance: light golden

Aroma: light citrus and hoppy

Flavour: refreshing lively fizz, light hoppy bitterness followed by a slight astringency

Overall description: good refreshing light lager

Rating out of 5: 4


Beer: helles lager
Brewer: Fordham, Dover, DE
Country trying in: USA
Town trying in: Arnold
Where purchased:
Date tasted:
Package type: Brown bottle
Best before date: ?
Size: 12 fl oz
Alcohol by volume: ?
Tasting temperature: chilled

Appearance: deep golden

Aroma: slight hop and banana
Flavour: fairly fierce fizz, a sweetness then lasting light bitterness with some more sweetness

Overall impression: not particular flavoursome but a nice mix of bitter and sweet

Rating out of 5: 3

However the best of the bunch which I drank whilst eating hard shell blue crabs was the Chesapeake pale ale - and foolishly I didn't record my review at the time. But it was a definite 5 out of 5 with lots of flavour and just the right amount of bitterness. Top notch!

Summer drinking

The weather has cleared up a little now which has meant a few more trips out and the discovery of a liquor store in Annapolis which does a mix your own 6 pack. So I did. I have been a little more sensible and selected some lighter summer drinking beers this time. The better weather has been great in terms of getting out, however it has curtailed my beer drinking as alcohol consumption and car driving shouldn't be mixed. However I have managed to sneak in one of the summer ales, a pleasant if not overly exciting Samuel Adams summer ale.

Beer: Summer ale
Brewer: Samuel Adams, Boston
Country trying in: USA
Town trying in: Annapolis
Where purchased: mills wine merchant, Annapolis
Date tasted: 16/8/11
Package type: brown bottle
Best before date: ?
Size: 12 fl oz
Alcohol by volume: ?
Tasting temperature: chilled

Appearance: light golden, slight foam, swift bubble rise

Aroma: hoppy and mild citrus

Flavour: lots of fizz, starts citrusy, mild banana and light bitterness with a lasting sweetness

Overall impression: nothing out of this world but decent flavoursome summer drinking ale.

Rating out of 5: 3


I have also been to the Middleton tavern - a proper ye olde tavern in Annapolis dating back from the 1600's. I tried a couple of their draught beers but foolishly forgot to take my tasting notes so the reviews for these 2 are a bit poor. I tried the Middleton Oyster ale. A darkish amber ale with a slightly odd astringency, almost rubbery mouth feel and a little over sweet with a bitter that jarred rather than complemented. Not bad but I wouldn't drink it again, 2.5 out of 5. The other beer I tried was the Yuengling traditional lager. A dark golden, a pleasant flavoursome lager but not nearly as good as a Brooklyn lager in my opinion, 3/5.

The good, the bad and the ugly

So the weather so far has not been the hot sunshine i'd been hoping for. In fact conditions are somewhat monsoon like. However, every cloud and all that means that the the weather has been more conducive to me trying the crazily strong beers. I started 'light' one evening with the weizenbock at a mere 6.8%. Described as a Belgian style it does indeed have leffe type qualities, not bad. I also tried the double IPA at a whopping 8.5%. Now I'm not one to give up on a beer easily and I'm no wuss. I did try hard but I'm afraid I found this utterly undrinkable.

Beer: weizenbock
Brewer: sierra nevada
Country trying in: USA
Town trying in: Annapolis
Where purchased: bay hills liquor store
Date tasted: 15/8/11
Package type: brown bottle
Best before date: ?
Size: 12 fl oz
Alcohol by volume: 6.8%
Tasting temperature: chilled

Appearance: dark Amber, cloudy, light bubble rise

Aroma: sweet, banana, hoppy

Flavour: sweet and light hoppiness with then a big hit of banana and lasting bitter sweet combination

Overall impression: very Belgian. It has that sweetness and banana-ness with the alcoholic strength. Pretty good.

Rating out of 5: 4



Beer: double IPA
Brewer: sierra nevada
Country trying in: USA
Town trying in: Annapolis
Where purchased: bay hills liquor store
Date tasted: 15/8/11
Package type: brown bottle
Best before date: ?
Size: 12 fl oz
Alcohol by volume: 8.5%
Tasting temperature: chilled

Appearance: dark golden, light bubble rise

Aroma: hoppy

Flavour: starts with a nice astringency and citrus notes then a hoppiness, then more bitter hoppiness then more, then more that fills the mouth and nose and lasts and lasts

Overall impression: very cleverly done and if you like hoppy bitterness then great but this was just way too strong on bitterness, hops and alcohol for me

Rating out of 5: 3.5

Here in the USA!

And so here we are in the very hot and humid Annapolis. Having discovered, after going into several supermarkets on the hunt for beer and finding nothing, that you can only buy beer from liquor stores we visited a local liquor store (off license for those of you reading in English). Now considering we are in the 'burbs here this place is amazing. I have never seen so many varieties of spirits, wines and beers in a local shop. The only problem with the US, leaving aside politics, is that you only seem to be able to buy beers in a minimum if 6... What's that about? Luckily though we spotted a couple of mixed cases so this evening I am trying Pale Moon, a belgian style ale from the Blue Moon brewery whose original beer has just arrived on draught in the UK and.... some Sierra Nevada 'best of camp'. I am a big fan of the pale ale so it seemed a good opportunity to try some others. It turns out that Sierra nevada have this experimental beer camp where they try new ideas out and this year they have bottled some off them. So I now have a case of 12 consisting of 4 different kinds. The slight issue is that it is only now I have them home and out of the box that I discover the lightest beer is 6.5% and one is 8.5%. So if i start slurring my blog you'll know why.

Beer: Pale Moon
Brewer: Blue Moon brewing company, Colorado
Country trying in: USA
Town trying in: Arnold, MD
Where purchased: Bay Hills liquor store
Date tasted: 13/8/11
Package type: brown bottle
Best before date: ?
Size: 12 fl oz
Alcohol by volume: 5.4%
Tasting temperature: chilled

Appearance: golden, light bubble rise

Aroma: hoppy and fruity

Flavour: refreshing at first with the carbonation and fruitiness, then a nice level of bitterness

Overall impression: it is a nice beer, not quite as interesting at the original blue moon. It feels almost too 'just right'. It's a bit like an 'air brushed' beer. Too much of the right balance of everything that it loses it's personality. But having said that, a nice beer to drink

Rating out of 5: 3.5

Beer: California common
Brewer: Sierra Nevada, California
Country trying in: USA
Town trying in: Arnold, MD
Where purchased: Bay Hills liquor store
Date tasted: 13/8/11
Package type: brown bottle
Best before date: ?
Size: 12 fl oz
Alcohol by volume: 6.5%
Tasting temperature: chilled

Appearance: dark golden, light bubble rise

Aroma: banana, spice, lightly hoppy

Flavour: starts with the fizz mouth feel then a little hoppiness, moves into a light banana taste followed by a spicy clove then finishes with a little bitterness with lingering spice.

Overall impression: an interesting beer with the cloves and fruitiness. The flavours can all be distinguished but none over power. A lovely, complex beer. Shame it's so strong as one will be plenty...

Rating out of 5: 4.5

Two with top marks...

So a few days back in Brighton after the trip to the West Country and a chance to try a beer that I'd picked up while we were away and what a thing of beauty. The Exeter brewery Avocet ale. An organic devon ale designed to be served chilled. So I'd put it in the fridge and on a balmy August evening I sat in the garden with Brighton's finest take away pizza (from Pizza face in kemp town) and drank a beautiful beer. It is the perfect real ale alternative to cold lager. Now a cold lager can hit the spot but it is still fizzy lager beer. The Avocet ale was perfect.

Beer: avocet organic ale
Brewer: Exeter brewery
Country trying in: UK
Town trying in: Brighton
Where purchased: Crediton farmers market
Date tasted: 9/8/11
Package type: brown bottle
Best before date: June 2012
Size: 500ml
Alcohol by volume: 4.2%
Tasting temperature: chilled

Appearance: light golden, medium carbonation

Aroma: fresh and light hops with a mild citrus aroma

Flavour: refreshing with a light citrus flavour followed by a full hoppiness but not overly bitter. A full but refreshing mouth feel.

Overall impression: a thing of beauty. A perfect mixture of citrus, a light bitterness and lasting refreshment.

Rating out of 5: 5 (the first with top marks)

And now the beer challenge moves to the USA, Annapolis, MD to be precise. But not before a stop to some friends in Bracknell who introduced me last night to a beautiful beer from the Badger Brewery. The Golden Glory.

Beer: Golden Glory
Brewer: Badger
Country trying in: UK
Town trying in: Bracknell
Where purchased: ?
Date tasted: 11/8/11
Package type: brown bottle
Best before date: ?
Size: 500ml
Alcohol by volume: ?
Tasting temperature: chilled

Appearance: golden, clear, light carbonation

Aroma: a whopping great hit of peach and a mild hoppiness

Flavour: a zesty astringency with sweet peach a medium hoppy bitterness

Overall impression: Gorgeous, I can't believe I haven't tried this before. I think perhaps the description of peach has put me off before but it is a stunningly well balanced combination of bitter, sweet, peach and citrus. Top notch

Rating out of 5: 5 (the second with top marks - I think I must be going soft...)

And so the next beer will be an american one - any suggestions....?

Exeter brewery and a beer safari

The Devon beer fest continues. After my other challenge workout this morning we headed off to the Crediton farmers market. A small but perfectly formed market with some great meat, cheeses, pate and... an Exeter brewery stall selling 4 of their bottled ales for £8. Well, what can you do faced with a bargain like that. So this evening I'm trying the Ferryman Bitter. I highly recommend getting a tasting notes sheet and using it as a guide when trying beer. I'm really appreciating the aromas and subtle differences in beers now I'm making myself really think about what I'm tasting. My tasting notes and general knowledge about tasting beer came from the fabulous day-long beer course run by a small company called Food Safari based in Suffolk (www.foodsafari.co.uk). If you want a great day visiting a hop farm, barley farm, a personal tour round Adnam's brewery with the head brewer and the most gorgeous lunch and dinner with more beers to try than you can shake a stick at then get on their Beer Safari course.

And so to beer number 7

Beer: Ferryman
Brewer: Exeter Brewery
Country trying in: UK
Town trying in: Chagford
Where purchased: Crediton Farmers Market
Date tasted: 6/8/11
Package type: brown bottle
Best before date: ?
Size: 500ml
Alcohol by volume: 4.2%
Tasting temperature: room

Appearance: reddish Amber in colour, slightly cloudy, light bubble rise

Aroma: toffee-ish with a hint of banana

Flavour: first you get a tingly mouth feel of the carbonation followed by a slightly sweet citrus then a medium lasting bitterness

Overall impression: a really good easy drinking bitter. Flavour wise it's not particularly out of the ordinary but a good classic bitter.

Rating out of 5: 4

Ahhh, Devon

And so the beer tasting roadshow moves on from the New Forest to Devon. However, I do have 3 bottles from Ringwood Brewery to try should the draught pickings get a bit thin at any point. So first stop was my favourite pub, the Double Locks in Exeter (www.double locks.com). I tried a pint of Otter Amber. I am quite a fan of Otter Ales (www.otterbrewery.com) but I've never tried the Amber ale, and what a treat.

So beer number 6...

Beer: Otter Amber
Brewer: Otter Brewery, Honiton, Devon
Country trying in: UK
Town trying in: Exeter
Where purchased: double locks pub, Exeter
Date tasted: 5/8/11
Package type: draught
Best before date: ?
Size: pint
Alcohol by volume: 4%
Tasting temperature: room

Appearance: Amber, clear, small creamy head which clung to the glass perfectly

Aroma: hoppy

Flavour: refreshing astringency, light, fresh hoppiness, with a light lasting bitterness

Overall impression: A lovely drinking refreshing ale, top notch. I could definitely spend a long afternoon drinking this.

Rating out of 5: 4

2 unique ones...

A gorgeous hot and sunny day in the New forest so what better way to spend the evening than wandering over to the Red Shoot pub with on site brewery. It was a proper New Forest journey with 2 people on horseback, 2 on mountain bikes and 2 of us walking the dogs. The pub brews a number of beers and two were on draught this evening so I had to try both. The first was the bitter, Tom's tipple and the second, a dark mild called Muddy Boots. Both were really different and I would highly recommend trying this place if you're in the area.

Beer: Tom's Tipple
Brewer: Red Shoot, Ringwood, Hampshire, UK
Country trying in: UK
Town trying in: Ringwood
Where purchased: Red Shoot Pub
Date tasted: 3/8/11
Package type: draught
Best before date: ?
Size: half pint
Alcohol by volume: ?
Tasting temperature: cellar

Appearance: dark golden, clear, very light head

Aroma: peardrop, banana sweetness

Flavour: creamy then a little watery followed by a hit of banana and peardrop, then a mild bitterness which disappears

Overall impression: In spite of the odd description of flavour it was actually quite enjoyable and quite different. However, I'm nit sure I could drink a lot of it

Rating out of 5: 3.5


Beer: Muddy Boots
Brewer: Red Shoot
Country trying in: UK
Town trying in: Ringwood
Where purchased: Red Shoot pub
Date tasted: 3/8/11
Package type: draught
Best before date:?
Size: half pint
Alcohol by volume: ?
Tasting temperature: cellar

Appearance: dark ruby, clear, small but creamy head

Aroma: burnt chocolate, honey, coffee

Flavour: sweet chocolatey, mild bitterness and creamy texture. A lingering chocolate taste with a lasting bitterness and mild astringency.

Overall impression: lovely, chocolatey mild. Probably not quite the right weather for it but one cold winter afternoon in front of a log fire and you could through quite a bit of this. The only thing that stops me from giving it 5 out of 5 is that it could be just a bit too sweet after a while.

Rating out of 5: 4

a citrusy one for beer number 3

The third beer is my other purchase from the Cambridge wine merchants - this one is date though... It's Citra from Oakham Ales. Made using only Citra hops which are relative new to the UK. Grown mostly in the US they impart a citrus, grapefruit flavour. Oh, and first day of exercise too so what with the fruity beer and the workout I positively a health fanatic.

Beer: Citra
Brewer: Oakham Ales
Country trying in: UK
Town trying in:
Where purchased: Cambridge wine merchants, kings parade, Cambridge
Date tasted: 3/8/11
Package type: brown bottle
Best before date: march 2012
Size: 500ml
Alcohol by volume: 4.6%
Tasting temperature: chilled

Appearance: light golden, clear, moderate bubble rise

Aroma: citrus, grapefruit, light bitterness

Flavour: astringent in the mouth but quite refreshing. Citrus and lychee immediate flavours. Then a lasting bitter finish.

Overall impression: Nice refreshing beer, different and interesting with the grapefruit and lychee but the bitterness was a little too much for my taste and I felt somewhat overpowered the fruitiness.

Rating out of 5: 3

Beer 2 - a Spelt one

I was excited to try this evening's beer as it was a brand new discovery at the Cambridge wine merchants the other day. Unfortunately it was only when it was too late to return that I realised it was a month out of date. Nevertheless I was still intrigued by the Gladiator Spelt Beer from Glebe Farm. So the barbecue was heating up nicely, the beer was chilled and then what a disappointment. Not unpleasant and probably not helped by being out of date but really nothing much at all.


Beer: Gladiator Spelt Beer
Brewer: Glebe Farm, Huntingdon, Cambs,UK
Country trying in: UK
Town trying in:
Where purchased: Cambridge Wine Merchants, Kings Parade, Cambridge
Date tasted: 2/8/11
Package type: brown bottle
Best before date: end June 2011
Size: 330ml
Alcohol by volume: 4.2%
Tasting temperature: chilled

Appearance: golden

Aroma: citrusy and hoppy

Flavour: watery, fairly fierce carbonation. Disappears in the mouth, slight bitterness after taste which doesn't last.

Overall impression: Not unpleasant but nothing much at all

Rating out of 5: 2

Beer number 1

Day 2 of the 56. Unfortunately another rest day for my exercise challenge due to travelling and putting up tents. We have travelled from Brighton to the New Forest and, due to a rather pessimistic route planner from the AA, we set off very early and arrived in very good time. All to say that I manage to sneak in an unplanned cheeky half in a pub in the New Forest. So I'm sitting in the sunshine in a lovely garden, with my trusty drinking buddies, Kathryn, Agnes the puppy and Finley the terrier, listening to the water feature (somewhere between a spitting frog and an actual stream) sipping beer number 1 - Seafarers Ale from George Gale. A lovely start to the challenge.

Beer: Seafarers ale
Brewer: George Gale, Hampshire, UK
Country trying in: England
Town trying in: Ringwood, Hampshire
Where purchased: Alice Lisle pub
Date tasted: 2/8/11
Package type: draught
Best before date: ?
Size: half pint
Alcohol by volume: 3.6%
Tasting temperature: cellar

Appearance: clear, slightly foamy head which disappeared quickly, darkish amber in colour.

Aroma: honey and banana with a slight maltiness.

Flavour: light with a light astringency, light carbonation. Mild honey flavour and a lasting bitterness.

Overall impression: nice, light easy drinking bitter but nothing exciting. Does improve the more you taste.

Rating out of 5: 3