Getting stuck into this drinking at home lark - five weeks since I last saw the inside of a pub, and even then I had to have a substantial meal to keep the virus at bay. Mostly I've been drinking old favouritse, so I haven't bored you with reviews of beers I've drunk a million times before.

But now it's time to make a start on a selection of beers that arrived in deliveries last week from Siren Craft and Buxton. These are two fairly popular breweries, I reckon, but I've never been right keen myself. I wanted to test whether I've been agin them because of the beers I've tried in pubs from time to time not being to my taste, or just because they are both so clearly up themselves.

So, first on Monday was Siren Craft Through the Hourglass 8.2% 375ml. This is a barrel aged saison, a "beer of its time, secondary fermented in barrels and carefully blended for bottling. Aromas of stone fruits and sherbet give way to blossom honey sweetness, floral character and vibrant, complex acidity before a drying oak finish." Well, maybe I wasn't paying attention, because most of this completely passed me by. It was very much like any other saison, and I didn't even get much sense of the alcohol level claimed on the label. Speaking of which, the label is grey and copper, very hard to read, with a monochrome drawing of a sea monster clasping a barrel in its octopus legs, which is probably not the best way to undergo a secondary fermentation, but be that as it may. This little beauty cost £7, quite a large proportion of which must have gone on the customised bottle, a chunky affair in an unusual size and having an indent in the base that would normally be seen on a wine bottle. Marks for beer: 4/10. Marks for being up themselves: 9/10 (mark lost for not having a cork and a wire cage).

Next, a 33cl can of Buxton Low Tor Peak District Bitter 3.8%, "a session version of our classic Red IPA High Tor. It shares all the malts, hops and character of its bigger cousin." Just more water, then. The can is a dark strawberry colour, with a monchrome drawing of an (I presume imaginary) rock outcrop. The effect is something like I would imagine a visit to Derbyshire in the aftermath of a nuclear attack on Manchester. On the subject of attack, this beer is incredibly bitter, totally overwhelming the malt as far as I'm concerned. There's no subtlety here, and no English hops either, I'd bet. (Neither this nor the Siren beer mention the hop varieties on the packaging or on the respective webpages.) The overwhelming flavour is orange, very bitter orange, exceedingly bitter orange. I've got another can of this at £1.59 each, and I'll be leaving the other for a special occasion - perhaps a curry night. Marks for beer: 3/10. Marks for being up themselves: 7/10 (Manchester had it coming.).

Then last night a couple more Buxton beers. First up was one in a series that they call LupulusX "an experimental single hop program. Every beer has the same recipe, only the hop changes to deliver a distinctive flavour burst." The one I got was Motueka IPA 5.4% 44cl, a New Zealand hop bred from Saaz and two local varieties, and which is also known as Belgian Saaz. (The other hops in this series are listed here.) This is a modern IPA with the hops used more for aroma and flavour rather than bitterness. I must say this was a lot better than some IPAs and American pales I tried earlier this year, a refreshing and gluggable beer, not too gassy, quite well balanced, quite expensive too at £3.60 for a lot less than a pint (expensive hops, obv). Marks for beer: 6/10. Marks for being up themselves: 8/10 (Do they really think we're going to buy all nine of these and compare notes online? Get real, guys.)

Final beer in this session was Buxton's Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, called Single Barrel Rain Shadow Bourbon 2020 12% 33cl, "our annual release of our straight-up Barrel Aged Imperial Stout. This year, we've developed it into three distinct expressions. This is the Bourbon variant, aged in American Bourbon Whiskey barrels in our barrel store for more than a year. We've aged it so you don't have to - ready to enjoy." I must admit I drank this while watching the telly last night, well to be honest it was a few episodes of the West Wing on DVD. I mention this only to excuse myself for not reading the blurb on the can while drinking, because I had completely forgotten that this was a Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, aged in American Bourbon Whiskey barrels so you don't have to. It came across as an overwhelmingly chocolate flavoured stout, one dimensional and not particularly interesting or even very alcoholic. Now, I could continue to blame the TV series, which I've watched before several times but it's very well written, acted and directed, and a reminder of times not so long ago when Republicans, while still recognisably the enemy, were also, at the end of the day, pretty decent guys who had America's best interests at heart. Where was I? Beer? Yes, there was a beer, and it's got to take it's share of the blame. Yes, that beer. A chocolate-flavoured stout, it was in this can beside my chair, then it was in a glass and now it's gone. £7.50 for a 33cl can? (I could have bought a few DVDs for less than that.) How can a 12% BA imperial stout slip down over the course of 90 minutes or so of old TV without much more presence than a bar of chocolate? OK, there's another one in my cupboard-under-the-stairs, but it got a bit of a dent in transit so I'm giving it a couple of weeks to recover. Then I'll give it my full attention in hope of detecting some whiskey barrel reminiscences. In the meantime: Marks for beer: 4/10. Marks for being up themselves: 10/10 (As well as saying that it's been in whiskey barrels for a year - "so you don't have to" - it would be good if it actually tasted as though it's been in whiskey barrels for a year, rather than just going round and round in a chocolate fountain.)