Beer of the Week (w/e 7th September 2014)

[ROBCamra]

Bucking Fastard: Oakham Scarlet Macaw
Real Ale Ray: Red Willow Feckless
Mobyduck: ELB Cowcatcher
london calling: Dark Horse Tres Blueberry Stout
Aqualung: Holden's Black Country Mild
hondo: Welbeck Abbey Cavendish
Thuck Phat: Oakham Bishops Farewell
aleandhearty: Green Jack Lurcher Stout
oldboots: Partners Shoddy Porter
Wittenden: Larkins Best Bitter
ROBCamra: Outstanding Ramsbottom Festival Ale

[Bucking Fastard]

Managed a mini tour of Hitchin but that was it.

Buntingford -- Engineer
Oakham -- Scarlet Macaw
Animal Brewing -- Wheat Beer
B&T -- Plum MILD

It was all in very good shape ,but BOTW went to Oakham Scarlet Macaw in top form from The Half Moon in town.

Next week boating to Kidsgrove and Leek,which should serve up some fine ale .

[Real Ale Ray]

Red Willow - Feckless

[Mobyduck]

A very good day in the smoke yesterday both beer and pub-wise.
Darkstar Hophead 3.8%
Darkstar American Pale Ale 4.7%
Clarence & Fredericks Golden Ale 3.8%
Crouch Vale Blackwater Mild 3.7%
St Austell Tribute 4.2 %
Portobello VPA 4.0%
ELB Cowcatcher 4.8%
Twickenham Naked Ladies 4.4%
Harveys Sussex Best 4.0%
Moncarda Notting Hill Summer 3.2%
Sharps Doom Bar 4.0%
A tossup between the Cowcatcher and Notting Hill Summer ,both enjoyed in The Gunmakers(sadly probably, for the last time in its current guise) , the Cowcatcher was even better earlier in the day at The Finborough Arms so is on that basis BOTW.

[london calling]

Only a few good ones
brewsters -roll in the hay(sweetish but hoppy)
earls -pale ale x (superb pale ale
Botw was a American beer I have had before and was Botw then
dark horse -tres blueberry stout(I think fruit and stout are a great combination) assuming the brewer knows how to brew.

[Aqualung]

Not a bad week with a trip to the Black Country enabling the sampling of many of the old favourites from before the microbrewery explosion. Unusually the list includes two genuine "House" beers.

Batham's Mild 3.5%
Banks's Mild 3.5%
Holden's Black Country Mild 3.7%*
Holden's Black Country Bitter 3.8%
Butcombe Yeti 4.0%
Fowne's Crispin's Ommer 4.1%
Woodbine Dominion Racer 4.2%*
Batham's Best 4.3%
Holden's Golden Glow 4.4%
Sambrook's Lavender Hill 4.5%
Buntingford 92 Squadron 4.5%
Exmoor Gold 4.5%
Banks's Green Flash Citra Session IPA 4.5%*
Conwy Rampart 4.5%
Beowulf Finn's Hall Porter 4.7%*
Saltaire Cascade Pale 4.8%
Beowulf Mercian Shine 5.0%
Holden's Special 5.1%
Fownes Troll Hunter 5.3%*
Green Jack Gone Fishing IPA 5.5%
Wadworth's Kalamazoo American Ale 5.8%
Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild 6.0%


I'm finding it difficult to chose this week but the Holden's Black Country Mild in the Great Western under Wolverhampton station was probably the best I've ever tasted it and at £2.40 a pint good value.

BOTW Holden's Black Country Mild

[oldboots]

What a mixed bunch,

Robinsons - Dizzy Blonde
Rat - White Rat
Rat - Bohemian Ratsody
Harrogate - Pinewoods
Ilkley - Gold
Taylors - Boltmaker
Wharfebank - Tether Blonde
Kirkstall - Three Swords
Partners - Shoddy Porter
Tennants - Lager
Batemans - Black & White
Otter - Amber Ale
Brains - Across the Water
Thwaites - Wainwright
Burton Bridge - Mild XL
Gadds - #7
Shepherd Neame - Whitstable PA
Banks's - Mild
Marstons - Burton Bitter
Caledonian - Golden XPA
Salopian - Shropshire Gold
Sharps - Doombar
St Austell - Tribute
Wells & Young - Courage Directors


The winner Partners - Shoddy Porter

[Wittenden]

Good Week-Nottinghamshire,Kent:
Oakham-JHB 3.8%abv.Straw pale, nettley hops.Grand.
Dukeries- Baronet 3.9%abv. Good brown bitter,earthy and moreish.A grower.
Westerham-Oxney Ale (House Beer)4%abv.Good earthy brown bitter.What the doctor ordered.
Larkins-Traditional 3.4%abv.Delightful as ever, though more flinty than flowerey.
Larkins-Best Bitter 4.3%abv.I'd not tried this before:dark amber,mellow with robust hoppiness.Hedge fruit.Autumnal.A classic.
I drank the JHB on Monday,and made it my BOTW there and then, but was bowled away by the Larkins Best Bitter on Saturday,taken at The Castle Inn, Chiddingstone, a matter of yards from the brewery. My BOTW-Larkins Best Bitter.

[ROBCamra]

Outstanding - Ramsbottom Festival Ale, tried several times in The Baum last Tuesday.

3.9% of hoppy loveliness.