Beer of the Week (w/e 8th November 2015)

[Mobyduck]

Pretty quiet for me as well,
Darkstar Hophead 3.8%
Darkstar APA 4.7%
Castle Milk Stout 6.0% (bottle)
Mash Mash Pale 3.8%
Oakham JHB 3.8%

All the beers were in decent condition, BOTW is the Castle Milk Stout, quite a surprise as I don't often drink at home and prefer cask to bottle, but this proved to be very good. The Mash Pale was the only other new beer to me, an acquired taste I would say, initially very sharp tasting and it took over half a pint for me to begin to acquire said taste, but once I did it was very hoppy in a lemony sort of way, so a good albeit restrained week.

[Aqualung]

A few hours in Rugby and a mainly Spoons rampage from Lincoln to Peterborough provided a decent list :-

Brewster's Hophead 3.6%*
Byatt's Coventry Bitter 3.8%
Great Orme Ghost Train 4.0%
Abbeydale Deception 4.1%
Oakham Citra 4.2%*
Rudgate Battleaxe 4.2%
Long Man Old Man 4.3%*
Oakham Owl and the Pussycat 4.5%
Wychwood Nordic Noir 4.5%
Wood's Ebony Stout 4.5%
Tring Moloko 4.5%*
Wickwar Wessex Witchcraft 4.6%
Green Jack Rising Sun 4.8%*
Hook Norton Fat Head's Yakima Sun 5.0%*
Wadworth Cooper's Vice 5.0%
Austendyke Hogsgate 5.0%
Greene King Abbot 5.0%
Moorhouse Pendle Witches Brew 5.1%
Rooster's Nectar 5.2%*
Grainstore Rutland Beast 5.3%
8 Sail John Barleycorn IPA 5.5%*
Wychwood King Goblin 6.0%*

The King Goblin star may be a red herring as it was tasted after a pint of Abbot. I'd been told by the local Wild Card brewery people that Brewster's Hophead was outstanding and on this occasion it was. I would almost go as far as saying it rivals the better known beer of that name but perhaps not.
However this week's winner is one I've tried a few times before (not just in Spoons) and it hasn't lived up to the reputation from these columns alone. It's Oakham Citra as tried for a pleasing £2.60 at the Oakham Brewery Tap, a place to which I definitely plan a return visit. If I'd known my train was over 20 minutes late I would have also tried the Bishop's Farewell.

BOTW Oakham Citra

[aleandhearty]

Better than average week for me.

Acorn - Old Moor Porter.*
Great Heck - Citra.*
Fyne - Jarl.*
Rat - Rat to the Future.
Fernandes - Challenger.
Fernandes - Sorachi Ace.
Rat - Gunpowder Rat.
Five Towns - Lost Hope.*
Town House - Bramling Cross.
Five Towns - Nowt.
Exit 33 - Citra Smash.*
Great Heck - Voodoo Mild.*
Great Heck - Washington Red.*
Roosters - Yankee.
Fernandes - Golden Arrow.
Rat - Rat out of Hell.
Mallinsons - Brewers Calypso.

Loved all the Great Heck beers, but the Red, brewed with Simcoe and Columbus and dry hopped with Citra, really hit the spot.

[Bucking Fastard]

Late submission for an indifferent week.


Ringwood -- Best Bitter
Ringwood -- Filly Drift
Wriggle Valley -- Valley Gold
Yeovil -- Lynx Wildcat
Dorset Brewing Co -- Jurrasic *
Isle of Purbeck -- Studland Bay Wrecked

BOTW goes to DBC Jurrasic in decent shape at The Acorn Inn,Evershot.

[ROBCamra]

Vocation Life & Death, a 6.5% IPA. Quite possibly a contender for a&h's f**king brillant category on another thread.

Tried in The Baum of course.