Last of the 6 is the stout. Always best to leave the stout til last.
Stoodley Stout (black bottle top) headlines as rich and creamy.
Bottle notes say: “… the bottle is a traditional British Stout. The beer is rich and pitch black and contains chocolate malt with oats and wheat. It has a rich and creamy roasted flavour with aromas of orange, citrus and berry.”
Verdict: I was convinced I wouldn’t like this because most stouts with a chocolate malt have an excessive chocolate aftertaste that gets more unpleasant the more you drink it.
This one doesn’t. In fact this stout is lovely. The chocolate aftertaste is very subtle indeed. I can’t pick up the citrus and berry flavours but that doesn’t matter. I drank this very quickly indeed. It didn’t need de-gassing. It was just spot on.
This is a great stout – one of the best bottles of stout I’ve had for a long time. Very drinkable. Forget Guinness – drink this.
It’s reached an acceptable hour in the day where you can open a bottle of beer and not be frowned upon. Besides – I’ve been working hard all morning so why not.
Two ales from Little Valley remain – this one being the Cragg Vale Bitter.
Cragg Vale (purple bottle top) headlines as bold and malty.
Bottle notes say: “… the bottle is a classic Yorkshire Bitter. The beer is rich and red brown with a full and rounded body. It uses Challenger and Goldings hops giving it a crisp and fruity taste with a spice and grapefruit aroma.”
The usual sediment rules are suggested for this bottle conditioned ale. I didn’t see any sediment in mine when I poured it.
Verdict: Oooh. Pleasantly surprised. I expected a bitter bitter but this one isn’t. It is indeed full of body and a hint of spice and grapefruit – so their bottle notes are spot on. I could probably drink this all day – but I only have the one bottle so this is going to go on my ‘need to buy more’ list.
I can’t imagine getting fed up with this either. I know the first beer of the day goes down relatively quickly – but this one went down too quickly. It’s very good.
This is a damn good bottle. I can thoroughly recommend it. Now I’m off to search for a supplier.
Probably the last for today.
Little Valley Ginger Pale Ale is a 4% bottle (with a green top). It headlines as fresh, light and gently ginger.
Bottle notes say: “… the bottle exceptional drinkability. Light and ginger with a hint of citrus, it makes a delicious aperetif or perfectly accompanies any spicy Chinese or Indian meal !”.
The usual caution of holding back on the sediment has become commonplace on the label. If I ever get a stock of these I may well get to ‘rest’ the bottles.
Verdict: Well it certainly smells very gingery. And perhaps on this occasion the lumps of yeast should have been ‘held back’.
As for the taste? Na – I’m not keen on this one. Tastes like day old flat beer with ginger in it. It just doesn’t taste right to me. Granted the ginger is gentle – but you still only notice the ginger. It has no other qualities.
The only reason this would be good with curry is because you wouldn’t be able to taste it.
I’m sure someone will like it but it’s not for me – less said the better.
1-2 out of 5.
So 2 down 4 to go. Probably not all tonight. You can’t really be objective after too long.
Withens IPA (red bottle top) headlines as light and hoppy.
Bottle notes say: “… the bottle is a light version of the traditional IPA. Withens is steeped with Cascade hops, which gives the beer a refreshing floral aroma with hints of spice, citrus and orange.”
The recommendation as before is to rest it for 24 hours and then pour it until the sediment reaches the neck of the bottle. But you know I won’t do that. Mind you – in hindsight there is a lot of sediment in this IPA – A LOT !!!
Verdict: citrusy! Wasn’t expecting that in the IPA. Makes me want to look into what qualifies an ale as an IPA.
This bottle is 3.9% and seems very familiar to many of the citrusy Booze on the Ouse ales we had a few weeks ago.
I have to say too much citrus doesn’t cut it for me – but the growing number of citrusy ales out there might suggest I am in the minority.
This is 3rd of the 3 bottles so far. It doesn’t resemble an IPA and I won’t worry too much about hunting it down.
This ranks 2-3 out of 5. It’s ok – just not as good as the other 2.
2nd bottle being sampled is Tod’s Blonde.
Tod’s Blonde (yellow bottle top) headlines as cool and crisp.
Bottle notes say: “… the bottle is a Belgian style Blonde beer. The beer is bright yellow in colour with a pleasant malty taste and a smooth finish. It is a surprisingly mellow beer with a light fruity and spicy aroma. It makes a change to the continental lager!”
Also bottle conditioned – the recommendation from the brewery is to keep it upright for 24 hours and then pour it until the sediment reaches the neck of the bottle.
Quite frankly I don’t bother with those rules. I just pour it and drink it.
Verdict: Hmmm this is really nice too. Like the previous bottle I don’t do cold and I de-gas a bit. This 5.0% bottle contains wheat malt and barley malt and has a subtle malty twang to it. It is just like previous bottle with added Malt.
Another impressive organic bottle – I can hardly believe it. I prefer this to the wheat beer – but only because of the more ‘aley’ taste of the malt.
Another high 4’s out of 5 for me. I’m going to find this somewhere and buy it – oh and drink it!!
First let me qualify this review by saying I don’t generally like Wheat Beers. I also don’t generally enjoy Organic ales.
Hebden’s Wheat (silver bottle top) headlines as fresh, fruity and naturally hazy.
Bottle notes say: “… the bottle is a Belgian style Wheat beer. The beer is light in colour with aromas of coriander and lemon. It is cloudy with a refreshing classic finish. The draught beer won the coveted CAMRA Sliver Speciality Beer award in 2007.”
Because it is bottle conditioned – you can either pour 90% of it in the glass and dump the sediment – or as they recommend, you can swirl the sediment into the glass too.
This ale is Organic (like all their ales) and is Vegan friendly – and it has the CAMRA badge of love!
Now I don’t like my bottles cold – so I poured mine and left it for a while to warm up and de-gas.
My Verdict: This is a lovely bottle. Very refreshing indeed – a hint of citrus and very drinkable. I am very impressed that it lives up to it’s bottle notes. I think I was wise to try this one first as I don’t think the delicate flavours would have made it through after a stout and a bitter.
I really like this. It’s one of the best bottles I’ve had for a long time. Let’s hope the other 5 live up to this one.
My only disappointment? I only have one bottle. Rest assured I will buy this once I can find a supplier.
Using the Booze on the Ouse scale of 1-5 I’d give this a high 4’s.
My ever faithful buddy Simon – Trading Manager at Ocado – supplied me with 6 bottles of Little Valley Brewery ale for sampling.
Little Valley are from West Yorkshire and all their ales are organic and hand crafted.
First noticeable – but totally irrelevant thing is the bottles are heavy – heaven knows what they put in their glass.
Anyway, the six ales in their selection are:
- Withens IPA – at 3.9%
- Cragg Vale Bitter – at 4.2%
- Tod’s Blonde – at 5.0%
- Hebden’s Wheat – at 4.5%
- Ginger Pale Ale – at 4.0%
- Stoodley Stout – at 4.8%
All their bottle tops are colour coded too!
Let the tasting begin !
In summary, not as great as last year. A lot of middle of the road ales. But nothing that stood out.
No Nethergate this year. Not that that matters. But, just not blown away this year.
28 ales in. 6pm. Good going. The halves strategy is going well.
Next up ( don’t you hate that rubbish English) is:
- Brewsters Hopfield
- Castle Rock Harvest Pale
- Elgoods Golden Newt
- Digfield Fools Nook
I think this might be our last or penultimate round ! Getting tired now!
On Alan’s advice we are all going to try Rochfort. A Begian Beer – that will – allegedly put us off ale forever.
Wish Us Luck !
