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.

Old Thumper (Ringwood)

In 1988 this was the best beer the country had to offer, Awarded 'Champion beer of Britain' by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

I can understand it, at the time it was a bit of a landmark beer, a strong ale that made people think twice about what microbrewing could do. But this is 2010, and its in a bottle, produced by an ever growing Ringwood brewery who are now owned by Marstons.

It has a lovely sweet malty taste, followed by deep mouth filling fruity notes that trick the mind into thinking its eating a summer pudding. It has a reasonably strong hop finish to balance with the malt.

Lets be clear, this beer leaves you in no doubt you are drinking a strong ale, but one with something different to say. Its a beast, but don't be fooled into thinking its been tamed.

Where to drink : Somewhere where you have transport home arranged.

7/10 But you can't help thinking some of the magic has been lost trying to cage a beast like this in a bottle, and you'd be right. On draught its 5*s all the way.