To celebrate my 42nd birthday at the weekend, Brad and I bought up nearly all the ales in Tesco. Among the selection was Tesco Finest Belgian Wheat Beer. Although I have sworn allegiance to Ocado you clearly can’t buy this beer from them – so sorry guys – please don’t fire me! Label headlines tell [...]

Whenever I am in a Fullers pub I usually go straight for the draught ESB and drink it until I can drink no more. ESB has been winning award for years – twice voted World Champion Bitter, three times voted Champion Beer of Britain, and is acknowledged around the world as a one of the [...]

Sunday and still sunny and – I know a lot of people aren’t – but I am loving the lack of aeroplanes in the sky. I can listen to music and garden without comstant background noise. Today’s first bottle is Fullers 1845. 1845 headlines as ‘… matured to perfection for 100 days’. 1845 is pretty [...]

Bottle Three today is Fullers Organic Honeydew. Honeydew is a ‘… refreshing golden beer’ and is 5%. Bottle notes say ‘… this award winning premium beer is delightfully sweet, golden and refreshing’. Apparently it is ‘… the UKs leading organically produced ale’. Honeydew is brewed ‘ …using English malts and the finest honey to give [...]

I know it seems like I am drinking a lot lately – but gardening and DIY is thirsty work and the weather just right for ale. Another St Austell – this time Tribute – headlines as ‘… The South West’s favourite’. and ‘… a delicious beer that captures the essential character of Cornwall’. I’ve not [...]

Saturday and the sun is out and I’m out in the garden with a nice bottle of Clouded Yellow. Up until this bottle came along, my only exposure to Wheat beer was that Hoegarden stuff which I didn’t really have a lot of time for. This St Austell wheat beer is a far different kettle [...]

As the evening draws to a close (well for me anyway) I thought I’d finish with an ale I’ve never had before – that being Fuller’s Old Winter Ale. Headlines on the very heavy bottle are ‘… Rich, Warm, Winter Ale. This ale comes in at 5.3%. Bottle notes say ‘…the crystal malts in the [...]

My three favourite bottle brewers right now would have to be Bath Ales, Hook Norton and St Austell. St Austell make some cracking bottles. And their HSD is no exception. It is ‘… a traditionally brewed Strong Cornish Ale’ that comes in at 5%. HSD stands for Hicks Special Draught – and is named after [...]

It’s the weekend ! While people are stranded at airports and worrying about who to vote for in the election, my only real concern right now is what bottle of ale I am going to crack open first. Hook Norton Brewery are based in Oxfordshire and I’ve previously sampled most of their range and Tweeted [...]

Brad and I have previously raved about the Bath Ales via Twitter, both out of the bottle and on the pump. I figured it was time to write a proper review. I became familiar with the Bath ales when the Trading manager at Ocado gave me a selection of their range to sample. They were [...]