Thanks Adnams!

A big thanks goes out to the good people of Adnams for providing these great beers to review.

Beers included are : Adnams Broadside, Bitter, Explorer, East Green, Lighthouse and Gunhill.

Can't wait to get stuck in, i think the Gunhill is the only one I've tried before!

You can buy Adnams beers here, who offer a great value 6 Bottle selection pack for those wanting to conduct reviews of their own!

49'er (Ringwood)

Pours a lovely deep golden with hints of copper and a creamy toffee head. The aroma is sweet, but not fruity, more gentle toffee sweetness.

Its a gentle malt, that floods with caramel and a crisp refreshing taste. The middle is a packed biscuit crunch leading to a strong bitter sweet finish that lingers gently.

6/10 A decent premium ale, full caramel and biscuit flavours.

Thanks to Ringwood for providing, You can buy Ringwood beers here, or in most good Waitrose and Tesco's.

Best Bitter (Ringwood)

Pours a lovely deep bronze, with a light creamy head. A very gentle grassy aroma with peppery hints.

The start is a warming malty taste, that develops it to a smooth toffee flavour. Hints of berried fruit in the middle followed by a tangy but not sharp finish. The hops at finish are gentle, with no heavy dry bitter linger.

5/10 A very good traditional style best bitter

You can buy Ringwood beers here

Thanks Ringwood Brewery!

Big thanks to the kind people of Ringwood Brewery who sent me these beers to review.

You may have already seen my Old Thumper review, you might also have seen it when Roger Protz made it his Beer of the month in June this year. Anyway its a former CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain winner, great in a bottle and fantastic on draught.

Looking forward to reviewing the Best Bitter and 49'er

You can buy Ringwood beers here, or in most good Waitrose and Tesco's. I also thoroughly recommend their tours with plenty of sampling time at the end.

Eichenblatt Bitte (Oakleaf)

A Bavarian smoked wheat beer, “Eichenblatt Bitte” translates as “Oakleaf Please”

Poured as per the bottle instructions to give a nice cloudy beer, the head is a brilliant white, and despite expectations it doesn’t smell strongly of smoke.

There is a lot of fizzy hidden within this which gives it a real crisp bite. At first it tastes like a normal wheat beer, a nice gentle refreshing citrus sweetness lingers in the mouth whilst the smokey flavours slowly build like a crescendo of flavour. The finish is dry and leaves a lingering almost tobacco smokiness, with hidden fruit notes within. Its well balanced, the smokiness is prominent but not overpowering.

4/10 An intriguing speciality beer, if your a fan of wheat beer or smokey flavours in your beer this could be something special.

Special London Ale (Young's)

Pours a beautiful Amber colour, slightly caramel. A beautiful smell, somewhere between fresh grass and caramel.

Fills the mouth instantly with a delightlful rounded, mature, creamy, maltiness that lingers all the way to the finish. The finish is filled with big fruit flavours, like a rich fruitcake packed with cherries and maybe a gentle smokey flavour.

9/10 Outstanding, full, rich flavour. One of the best bottled beers out there. Surely another CAMRA win can't be far away?

Buy one of these today! Availble in Sainsbury's, Waitrose and most good stockists.

London Gold (Young's)

Rebranded from its former life as Kew Gold this beer pours as you would expect a beautiful crystal clear gold.

Strong citrus lemon flavours and smells to start, with limited sweetness, make it a refreshing opening punch to the tastebuds. There is a strong bite of that textbook Young's yeast in the middle for those who love it with a lingering biscuit finish, with gentle dry, but not over powering bitter hopping.

6/10 A very good refreshing golden beer, but lacks some more delicate flavour notes to challenge.

Check out Young's beers here

Thanks! Young's

A massive thanks to the kind people of Young's who sent me the following beers to review.

Young's London Gold (formerly known as Kew Gold)
Young's Special London Ale

You can buy Young's ales pretty much everywhere

Chimera IPA 7% (Downton Brewery)

A beautiful light golden beer, bottle conditioned, with a gentle floral scent

It starts with a lovely warming caramel sweetness, filling the taste buds like only a strong beer can. This is swiftly followed by a rounded mellow citrus edge, finishing with a nice fresh but not overpowering bitterness.

Not your typical huge hopped powerful finish IPA, but the best things don’t fit in the neat boxes we expect them to.

8/10 A cracking warming golden beer, great balance of sweetness and hops. Does the IPA title justice.

Buy their ales here

Thanks! Downton Brewery

Big thanks to the people from the Downton Brewery who provided these 3 beers for review!

Buy their ales here

Admirals Ale (St Austell)

Today CAMRA declared it their Bottled Beer of 2010.

So is it worthy of the title?

It pours a beautiful brown amber, perfect fizz and a delicious toffee coloured foaming head. It has a beautiful sweet and floral bouquet with hints of heather and honey.

Lovely warm maltiness, followed by a delicate hop bitter finish, such a perfect balance of bittersweet leaves no highs or lows just consistent smooth balanced flavour. A lovely mellow oakiness and hints of rum and warm spirits.

10/10 Pure bottled perfection, warmth, balance and a hundred delicate flavours. Go buy a bottle and be amazed.

Cornish IPA (St Austell)

With a buttered cod cackling in the pan, sweet potatoes on the boil and a jolly hungry tum, the Broadside looks through his collection for an ale that is "good with fish".

Cornish IPA is a smartly dressed Marks and Spencers ale. M&S is a funny old shop, determined to self brand everything.

Saying that, of late, a few choice alternative brands have crept into the shop and for an ale drinker to have ST AUSTELL plastered across the bottle would certainly be attractive. For that is what this is, a lovely light summer ale bottle conditioned by that king of Cornish breweries. As it is, the words are there, but in small font for the discerning ale hunter to seek and be pleased with.

As an IPA, the Broadside knew this wouldn't be Admiral's Ale mk II and from the moment it left the neck into the glass he was proved correct. This is a golden ale, a summery tangerine of a beer, the bottle conditioning providing wonderful biting gas on the tongue.

The first sip is of malted biscuit, and a middle eight kisses the mouth with that St Austell yeasted paradise. This is as balanced as summery IPAs come - sharp, malty and smart in the start, fruity-chompy in the middle and with an end signature of bitter hops followed by a P.S. of caramel.

Sadly, the thing is drunk and the fish is not yet ready - back to the cupboard!

Not everyone shops at M&S, but if you do, once you've picked up your cellophane sealed courgettes and Morroccan bean houmus I urge you to take a short detour past the ale selection on the way to the till and the inevitable payment card wince. These beers are frequently on a 6 for 5 or similar offer and there are some gems from well established breweries to be found.

8/10, superb.

- The Broadside