Beer of the Week (w/e 14th December 2014)

[ROBCamra]

Mobyduck: Dark Star American Pale Ale
Real Ale Ray: Williams Bros. Joker IPA
Aqualung: Holden's Old Ale
aleandhearty: Titanic Plum Porter
Bucking Fastard: Surrey Hills Albury Red
Wittenden: Old Dairy Snow Top
oldboots: Truefitts Zoffany IPA
Thuck Phat: Long Itch Choczilla
london calling: London brewery Black Dog Porter
ROBCamra: Cornish Crown SPA

[Mobyduck]

A rather meager week,
Darkstar Hophead
Darkstar American Pale Ale
Cottleigh Red Nose Reinbeer (Ho Ho Ho)
Goffs Tournament
Goffs Lancer
Stella Artois
Carling something or other

The APA was head and shoulders above the rest and BOTW, second best was the Stella :confused:

[Real Ale Ray]

Williams Bros. Brewing Co - Joker IPA

[Aqualung]

A hefty week for me with a visit to the Billericay Brewing Micropub and back to the Black Country for more Batham's and Holden's winter ales.


Holden's Black Country Bitter 3.8%*
Billericay Mild Bill 3.9%
Adnam's Old 4.0%
Black Country Bradley's Finest Golden 4.2%*
Billericay Billericay Dickie 4.2%
Wickwar Christmas Cracker 4.2%
Batham's Best 4.3%*
Lincoln Green Sherwood 4.4%*
Nelson Santa's Salvo 4.5%
Redemption Urban Dusk 4.6%
Abbeydale Nativity 4.7%*
Adnams 1859 Smoked Ruby Ale 4.7%
Arkell's Noel 5.0%
Kinver Black Ram 5.2%*
Kelham Island Captain Christmas 5.4%*
Broughs Ice-breaker 5.5%
Billericay Mild With No Name 5.5%
Billericay Chapel Street Porter 5.9%*
Wadworth's Winter Warmer 6.0%
Wadworth's Full Sail Wassail 6.0%
Batham's XXX 6.3%*
Billericay Mayflower Gold IPA 6.5%*
Portobello Apache IPA 7.0%*
Holden's Old Ale 7.2%*

The Broughs Ice-breaker ABV is a guess as I didn't write it down and can't find it at all online.
A rather overwhelming choice of good ones and a lot of the ones without a star were pretty good.
I'm going for the Holden's Old Ale which was served with a tight sparkler in the Chapel House at Lower Gornal for £3.35. I don't normally care for the use of sparklers with beer but in this case it worked a treat. It looked like a pint of Guinnes but tasted brilliant.


BOTW Holden's Old Ale

[aleandhearty]

A hastily arranged meet up saw 'oldboots' and me doing the rounds in Bradford yesterday. A solid day's drinking, but not many beers with the wow factor and some not quite at their best, for various reasons.

Oates - Liquid Equinox.
Stancill - Tom's Mild.*
Stancill - India Black.
Stancill - Porter.
Oates - Carragold.
Titanic - Plum Porter.*
Cross Bay - Sunset.
Thornbridge - Sunset.
Abbeydale - Moonshine.
Ilkley - Joshua Jane.*
Sky's Edge - Stout.
Sky's Edge - Citra Smash.
Ossett - Silver King.
Durham - Jack in a Box.*
Gloucester - Dockside Dark.*
Small World - Spike's Gold.
Roosters - Union Gap.

Easy winner was the Plum Porter, on excellent form at Jacob's Beer House.

[ROBCamra]

A hastily arranged meet up saw 'oldboots' and me doing the rounds in Bradford yesterday. A solid day's drinking, but not many beers with the wow factor and some not quite at their best, for various reasons.



A hastily arranged "Billy No Mates" saw me in Bradford on Friday.

In Jacobs, Fighting Cock, New Beehive, City Gent, Sparrow, Record Cafe, Al's Dime Bar
alongside some less salubrious hostels such as Harp Of Erin.

[Bucking Fastard]

A decent week,mainly on southeast based micro output.


Truman's -- Swift
Redemption -- Urban Dusk *
Sambrook's -- Powerhouse Porter
Surrey Hills -- Albury Red *
Dark Star -- Hophead *
Surrey Hills -- Ranmore Ale *
AB Inbev -- Stella (keg) :sick:

BOTW goes to Surrey Hills Albury Red ,well hopped ,nicely balanced and in good nick in The George,Croydon.

Next week the annual pilgrimage to The Old Fountain,usual pub crawl around Hertford and a bit of boating on the Oxford Canal should up the volume intake.

[Wittenden]

Weald of Kent:
Old Dairy-Snow Top 6%abv:A lovely black strap black ale.Liquorice and hops.Rather good,if a bit outside my comfort zone.My BOTW.

[oldboots]

Another quiet week enlivened only by a trip to Bradford with Ale & Hearty, as he says nothing to blow your socks off, however a trip to Truefitts Tap in Northallerton did blow my socks off BOTW Truefitts Zoffany IPA

Stancil - Porter
Salamander - Mud Puppy
Cross Bay - Sunset
Abbetdale - Moonshine
Ossett - Silver King
Sky's Edge - Stout
Gloucester - Dockside Stout
Roosters - Union Gap
Taylors - Boltmaker
Walls - Keepers Gold
Taylors - Landlord
Truefitts - Zoffany IPA
York - Guzzler

[aleandhearty]

A hastily arranged "Billy No Mates" saw me in Bradford on Friday.

In Jacobs, Fighting Cock, New Beehive, City Gent, Sparrow, Record Cafe, Al's Dime Bar
alongside some less salubrious hostels such as Harp Of Erin.

:o Sorry about that ROB. A tentative enquiry about a possible session in Leeds, 2-3 weeks down the line, morphed into a session in Bradford the day after! A dreadful coincidence. Your list was pretty similar to ours: Jacobs, Castle, New Beehive, City Gent, Sparrow, Record Cafe, Corn Dolly.

[Thuck Phat]

Long Itch Choczilla*
Hop Back Red Ember*
Purity Mad Goose*
Oakham Bishops Farewell*
Red Rock Capstan
Cheddar Ales Potholer

BOTW Long Itch Choczilla. A 5.9% chocolate and vanilla stout which warmed on a cold day. Plenty of chocolate,scarcely a hint of vanilla. Good but not as good as Titanic's version.

[london calling]

A pub crawl along the Finchley rd and into Barnet found a lot of very drinkable beers and all the pubs had cask beer.
BOTW
London brewery-black dog porter at the refurbished Bohemia.

[ROBCamra]

Cornish Crown SPA 4.8%. A new brewery to me based in Penzance.

Strong & Hoppy, but easy drinking. Tried in The Baum of course. :cheers: