Beers Enjoyed In June 2023

Beers Enjoyed In June 2023 

17 new ales tried this month, with a visit to Manchester and a weekend in Chesterfield in Derbyshire too.

Castle Rock Brewery – Screech Owl 5.5% ***** A strong Indian pale ale with a distinct crisp hoppiness. Not surprisingly an award winning ale.  Real Ale – Bar Fringe, Manchester 

Everards Tiger beer clip

Everard’s Tiger 4.3% Classic session ale I haven’t seen in years so my first chance to review it, malty,as well as hoppy, with a sweet finish to its bitterness. Well worth the reunion. Real Ale. The Chesterfield Arms Chesterfield 

Frome – Funky Monkey 4% **** Described as a ‘not quite’ pale ale, possibly due to the dash of citrus juice that stops this being a classic benchmark traditional bitter. Still good but it might have been awesome without the add-on flavour twist. Real Ale – The Black Horse, Preston. 

Front Row Brewing – Pause 4.5% ***** A truly exceptional chocolate stout like having a Gueness and a bar of Bournville at the same time.  Real ale  The  Chesterfield  Ale House microbar 

Kirby Lonsdale – 1822 Best Bitter 4.3% ***** A beer brewed with a mission, as money raised by its purchase is going to a group helping to save Ruskin’s View, an area of natural beaty near the Kirby Lonsdale Brewery, and painted by J W W Turner, and highly praised by art critic John Ruskin.  The beer itself is a classic bitter, copper coloured and very pleasant. Real ale – Vinyl Tap, Preston 

Little Critters – White Wolf 5% ***** A strong award winning golden ale that is deserving of the accolades bestowed upon it, cloudy, hazy and easy to mistake for a hoppy session ale. Teal Ale. The Market pub, Chesterfield 

Pub sign for The Market Pub – Chesterfield 

Magic Rock Brewing Co – Saucery 3.9% ***** Session strength craft beer with a distinct crisp bitter edge that really grips like a much stronger ale might.  Canned craft beer – Jazzin The Park Music Festival – Friends If Winckley Square drinks pop up bar – Preston.  

Neepsend Blonde 4% **** Pretty basic trad ale with a citrus dash flavouring and a dry finish. Nothing wrong with it but nothing great either.  Real Ale. The  Rutland Chesterfield 

New Ridge – Big Lizzie -5% ***** A very rich ruby mild that is pretty well perfect. Real Ale – Bar Fringe, Manchester 

Pig And Porter – Albedo 4.8% **** A confusing brewery name that gives the impression that all their beers are porters, while the Albedo is actually an American Pale Ale, and a fine example of one at that.  Real ale – Vinyl Tap, Preston 

Red Willow – CSI Macclesfield 4.5% **** Terrific silly name, and a decent beer unspoilt by being served in a bendy plastic glass at an open air event I attended. Nice dry hoppy finish. Real ale – Open air concert pop up bar.  Chesterfield Real ale

CSI Macclesfield beer clip

Red Willow – Wreckless 4.8% ***** Hoppy, (packed with Amarillo hops) and given a fruit citrus edge as well, for a fine high session strength ale. 

Rooster’s Brewing – Variation On A Theme – Jester – 4.3% *** Oddly named. Impressive English Pale ale – citrussy, supposedly with grapefruit though fortunately I never detected that. Real Ale – Bar Fringe, Manchester 

Smoke Brewery Double Ten IPA – ?% ***** Full bodied IPA with a darts theme to its bar clip. Real Ale – The Hidden Knight  Chesterfield 

Sign for The Hidden Knight pub – Chesterfield 

Thornbridge – The Market Porter 4.5% ***** A very tasty session ale strength smoky porter that really stands out. Real ale – Pig And Porter  Chesterfield 

Unicorn (Robinson’s) – Hopp 4.3% **** Robinson’s are rebranding many of their beers to the brewery name (Unicorn). Among them is Hopp, a pale ale that is as hopp-y as its name promises, ultra-traditional but with no distinguishing identifying factors or features. Real Ale – The Black Horse – Preston.

Beer Glass – The Chesterfield Arms

Wilde Child – Escape From L A  ***** Golden session ale with a very tangy orangy citrus finish. Real ale – Vinyl Tap, Preston.

Al photos taken by me.

Arthur Chappell

Beer Tasting And Other Ales Enjoyed In Mid-November 2021

At the Novacon 50 Science Fiction Convention, in Buxton, Derbyshire, there was a fabulous beer tasting event where attendees could bring in three beers, or pay a modest admission fee and enjoy any beer on the tables over the evening for free. I got to try several great ales. 

Beer taken by me (Not all beers photographed are those featured in the article)

One novelty I have not seen before was that many found the slightly rippled and mottled designs of some cans fascinating enough to pass them round for stroking in admiration. ‘Feel my beer’ was becoming a catch-phrase for the age. 

Preston Priestown Strike 1842 – taken by me

I took along three beers (two of one plus another). I didn’t drink these at the tasting as I see them often in Preston bars and shops.  The beers were both brewed by microbrewers, Priesttown, (Preston means Town Of The Priests or Priest’s Town, as it was founded by Catholic monks). 

Beer taken by me

Priestown – Strike 1842 (4.8% ABV) ***** , named after a brutally suppressed Prestonian strike in that very year, is a dark, cloudy, malty ale bordering on Stout and on the cusp between session ales and strong ales. I hope those who sampled this enjoyed it. 

Priestown – PR2 IPA was my other contribution, 6.3%  ***** A Beer named after its own Preston postcode, and a very strong fruity highly hopped bitter with a great aroma. A beer to treat with respect. 

The Beers I had at the beer tasting, in order.  

1/. Williams Brothers Of Scotland – Iconyc – American Style IPA 5% ***** A fizzy and strong craft ale, with a hint of citrus and hops.   

Beer taken by me

2/. Founders Baton – Stout About It – Vanilla Stout 5.2% ***** Lots of vanilla pods giving a sense of beer flavoured ice cream (cornets are pictured on the tin), and very sweet for a bitter. This was one of the beers with a nicely textured can.  

3/. Siren – Lumina 4.2% – *****A light brown session ale, smooth with subtle citrusy hoppiness. 

4/. Purity – Best Bitter – **** One of the few ales brought in for serving from the case rather than served in tins or bottles. Nice ruby colour, and a light crispy taste.

5/. The Belgian Brewer – Cherry 7.5% ***** The strongest beer I’d quaff all through my journey, potent, full of the fruitiness promised in the name.

6/. Cairngorm Black Gold 4.9% ***** My final tipple of the convention, a milk stout brewed with barley rather than hops so as early and traditional in style as you can get. A decent session ale, paradoxically smooth and fizzy and tasting much stronger than it actually is.   Award winning Scottish ale that bridges the dimensional gap between mild and stout, to give a terrific double taste effect. To top it all, they add licorice and blackcurrant into the mix. Extra-ordinary

Beer taken by me

Other Ales Enjoyed.

I made the most of the days leading to Novacon by exploring Buxton on Wednesday (10th November) and Sheffield on Thursday 11th November. Here are some of the beers enjoyed on the field trips. 

Abbeydale – Daily Bread 3.5% ABV ***   A rather uninspiring insipidly bland ale despite its promised hoppiness. A nice copper colouring but lacking in much taste.  Consumed in The Globe, Sheffield. 

Nailmaker – Chocolate Stout 5% ABV ***** Terrific ale that lives up to its name, deeply dark ale, smooth tasting, and chocolaty without tasting like concentrated cocoa powder. Tasted in The Old Queen’s Head, Sheffield. 

My beer glassware taken by me

Titanic – Steerage 3.6% *** Light golden coloured session ale, modest but not particularly great taste. Titanic are capable of much better.   Tasted in The Cheshire Cheese – Buxton.

Buxton Brewery – Buxton Brewery Ale – 4% **** Hoppy Session Ale strength pale golden ale with the taste of a wheatbeer.  Tasted in The Buxton Brewery Tap

Buxton Brewery – Buxton Blonde ***** Golden session ale, modest fine quality traditional taste.  Tasted in The Buxton Brewery Tap.

Buxton Brewery – Run Out DDH (Deep Dried Hops). 5.2% ***** The dryness is tangible, and the taste is crisp, though sadly just out of Session Ale range.    Tasted in The Buxton Brewery Tap

Aldwark Artisan Ales – Frankenstein Porter 5.4% ***** The Convention real ale bar’s most popular ale, both in name and taste, a real treat and I’m always a sucker for a decent porter.   

Aldwark Artisan Ales – Aldwark IPA 4.8%  Closer to session ale status, another fine, and hoppy ale overshadowed by the success of the Frankenstein.  

Aldwark Artisan Ales – Elixir Gold 3.9% ***** The lightest of the Matlock microbrewery ales on offer but a fine golden trad beer in itself. 

Joseph Holt’s BITTER ***** Manchester’s cheapest pub treat of an ale – an acquired taste I easily acquired 

Joseph Holt’s – TWO HOOTS ***** The best of the Holts’s ales, essentially the bitter with a little more oomf.