Last night saw a marvellous evening's tasting over at Ed's house, Bunker HQ, in the charming village of Ringwood.As well as the commandant's fine home made pizza (home grown vegetables and self cured ham!) a tidy range of ales were sampled which I think I can recall in order and attribute a vague personal Bunker rating to:
Postman's Knock (Hobson's) - a beautiful treacle ruby from Staffordshire (8)
Bootlegger (Independence) - A facsimile of a sturdy northern UK brown ale, not bad (6)
Boondoggle (Ringwood) - A summery Ringwood ale that sits quite well in a bottle (7)
90 Min IPA (Dogfish Head) - Delicious and strong, a wonderful US IPA in a Belgian style (9)
Raison d'Etre (Dogfish Head) - US, raisiny and lush. Lovely texture and pour (8)
Kingfisher (United) - Nice fresh lager to have with the pizza! (lager/unrated)
Great Bustard (Stonehenge) - A fine hearty ale, malty and rich (8)
Hobgoblin (Wychwood) - Chocolatey and involving. Good enough for a President. (7)
Old Engine Oil (Harvestoun) - I loved this. Syrupy, viscous and black as the devil's heart. (8)
Ola Dubh (Harvestoun) - Amazing. A christmas pudding of an ale. Sumptuous, luxuriating and rewarding (9)
I think that was it. Things got slightly fuzzy....
- The Broadside
