Old Bob (Greene King)

I'm starting to get the suspicion that Greene King frets about its popularity amongst real ale drinkers. Here's another brand from the past, resurrected for a GK drink, much like the banner of Tolly Cobbold was for Phoenix (6/10).

Founded in 1842, Ridley's was the longest established brewer in Essex until 2005 when, struggling under high debt, Ridleys was bought up by it's behemoth East Anglian neighbour. The plant was closed and the brand assimilated into the wider GK business.

Old Bob is a "Strong Premium Ale", and at 5.1% abv they're not wrong about the clout.

It pours fairly flat, with a whiff of toffee and grass on the nose and a deep potent chestnut colour. The brief suggestion of a head makes a fast exit within seconds, like a sweetshop robber making off with a marshmallow.

First taste is a bit toffee, with some slidey citrus flavours segueing into darker fruit. It's quite pleasing, and the biscuit-malt lilt at the tail end is verging to sweet but capped off by a brush of hoppy bitterness.

The brewers making this have done some good work here - there's no doubt this is a sweet beer, but the tangy fruit and hops really staple it down so that it has no chance to become sickly.

The alcohol carries gravitas throughout, and the final effect is a creamy, robust cold-weather pint, well suited to the bottle.

I'll likely never get a chance to sample the original Ridley brews, but whatever you think of large brew corporations hoovering up smaller competition, this still stands as a fine ale.

7/10 - A fine example of acrobatic balance in the stronger pint. Rich, creamy quality.

Delirium Nocturnum (Brouwerij Huyghe)

I was a big fan of Delirium Tremens, and I do like a dark beer, so surely this one adds up?

Pours a rusty deep brown, with a big whiff of earth and iron. A thin webby head soon dissipates to nought. The nose is peppers, bananas, figs, all a bit bonkers just like it's lighter sister beer.

The initial taste for me is a little gruesome, its all the fun of the fair when perhaps you just want to visit the coconut shy. Chewy, with slight chocolate rumours - it's like Billy Smarts madcap picnic hamper viewed through a black stocking of treacle, a mildly cloying aftertaste that lingers but not unpleasantly.

It's 8.5%abv, creamy with it and with each sup it grew on me more. If you can surmount the carnival of zany tastes it evolves into a dark fruity cracker. Wisps of herbs and pepper dance down the glass to the end.

So, idiosyncratic beer again from Brouwerj Hughe, but it all adds up to a fine and formidable strong ale experience for the adventurous.

8/10 - A circus ring of fruity barminess, rich bold fun dark ale.

- The Broadside

Delirium Tremens (Brouwerij Huyghe)

Firstly, do click on the Huyghe website, the intro by MD Alain de Laet is a classic bit of webbery.

A potent and colourful little package in a stone-effect bottle, Delirium Tremens offers much potential. The label shows various trippy animal icons and there's no doubt the message is that this will KO the unwary. It was voted Best Beer in the World at the 1998 World Beer Championships in Chicago.

It's 8.5%ABV, and on cap release the air fills with notes of fruit, ripe bananas and apples. It pours a joyous pale straw colour.

The sip is a little yeasty (it uses 3 types) and a lance-like note of pineapple wanders through, although not overpoweringly so. Huyghe brewery offers quite a few fruit beers, so its easy to see where this affectation came from.

The killer for me is the spices loitering in the undergrowth. Very european and peppery, they scatter through with gay abandon as the sup grows old and warm the tongue as the vaguely bitter aftertaste rears up and dies away. It's bitter just to the point of counteracting the fruit taste and no further.

This is a strong summer party drink for the discerning. The hops themselves taste like no normal hops, and I was amazed at how drinkable such a strong beer can be.

Not best in the world for me, but exacting and classy.

8/10 - Beautifully presented summer Belgian classic.

- The Broadside

Old Timer (Wadworth)

This is the winter strong offering from Wadworth.

Sideboard-brown with a filmy head, a whoosh of malt greets the nose on it's way into the glass.

It's a little gassy, which is the only noticeable difference from the pump offering. Taste-wise it's as nutty as a nut, with walloping yeasty notes - a hallmark of Wadworth beer.

The sup converts inexorably to dryness, with a rising hop bitterness in the tail that provides a bit of a marmite love-or-hate moment. The hop mix is very English, Fuggles early on and Goldings twisting things at the end. The tail is just a bit sharp for me.

It's serious beer for serious beer drinks. The 5.8%abv is pretty mighty compared to many supermarket offerings, but the ale actually tastes like it's just sub 5%, nothing too grouchy or etherized.

6/10 - Good but unsubtle beer, an old-school weaponized malt offering from Wadworth

- The Broadside

Gonzo Imperial Porter (Flying Dog)

This is a powerful pocket porter, 8.7%abv. US brewers Flying Dog say it's a "turbo charged version of Road Dog Porter", which I assume is their standard offering.

It pours with a lively coffee coloured head, and the same coffee laced with liquorice wafts headily on the nose. Properly black, the brewery claims this uses a double porter recipe and will "bite you in the ass if you don't show it proper respect". As if to underline the point an expressionistic Hunter S. Thompson self portrait stares hollow-eyed from the label.

The malts used are black, crystal and chocolate. First taste is a detonation of flavour with sweet malt, chocolate and coffee atomising on the tongue. It's heady and smoky, and in truth nearly a little too much.

The sweetness is more than offset by a big ass-kick of piney hops that leaves a long, ranging bitter aftertaste. I think this beer would best be served with a rich chocolate dessert at the sort of meal that ex-colonial colonels with impending gout might enjoy.

Further sips reveal a dusting of pepper and I'm finding appreciation acquires as the drink goes down. Its heady, rich and absolutely committed to it's aim, the antithesis of a dull beer.

I don't know much about Flying Dog, but I bet the Brewdog boys enjoy this. It's a complex, tumultuous beer, and a transatlantic bedfellow to their radical offerings.

8/10 - Overwhelming and virile, an impressive cauldron of flavours.

- The Broadside

Old Tom (Robinson's) - 8.5%abv

Old Tom is sold in a lovely little bottle, dark and chunky. It has embossed glass lettering in the industrial-era style, and a small picture of a cat, winking cheekily as he invites you to your downfall.

For this is strong ale, not just your 5/6 percent sturdy pint, but a whopping 8.5%, a beer to hearten the soul before a day at the factory. That said, it's from Stockport , and the brewery appear to be extremely proud of this Victor Ubogu of an ale. "World's Best Ale 2009" says the label. This is some feat, as the brewery has been going since 1899, and the beer itself sold for almost as long.

Old Tom is sold in chocolate and ginger variants, but the bottle I have is of the standard ordnance type. It pours very dark indeed, somewhere between ash and bitumen in colour, and if it were served to me as a pale porter, I'd not disagree. The nose is mostly soft chocolate malt, but with a mere hint of banana and edged with peril.

The taste is sweetly, thickly malty but an immediate second channel of aniseed hops opens up to counter this. The unbroken rodeo-bull of the alcohol has a sturdy back, and carries these combative tastes with ease, allowing them to dance but never obliterate each other. The malty brass and hoppy woodwind notes are joined by picaresque strings of coffee and molasses, and the whole sum is a striking hybrid taste - new yet very old and refined over the years.

The final note is a sweetening port strain, seductive and moreish. The temptation and hazard within this small bottle could as easily be named Old Nick as Old Tom, such is it's infernal allure.

It's a head-kicker, have no doubt, but it's also genuinely sumptuous ale, and a prime example of how to create a potent barley wine. Fantastic.

9/10 - Near faultless. Delicious sturdy old-world flavours.

- The Broadside

Very Special India Pale Ale (Greene King)

Despite hailing proudly from Suffolk, I'm not the biggest fan of the standard Greene King IPA. Balanced enough and fairly smooth, for me it lacks that special something to make it a returning pump target, it's a Bunker Grade 6.

I was keen however to try this small, opulently bottled number. Only the brand makes it outwardly similar to the standard product, this is a little glinting jewel on the shelf.

In the bottle the beer is a deep bronze and is 7.5%ABV, similar to the genuine strength of the original IPAs that voyaged their hazardous way to Calcutta and Bombay. The hops used are Challenger, First Gold and Target to provide bitterness, and Styrian Goldings to lend it a citrus fruit hint.

It pours with little fuss, and has a paper-thin fleeting head, soon eradicated by the potent alcoholic tumult below. The nose is floral with a faint fruit echo akin to Calvados or pear brandy.

First taste is malty-sweet with some dusted spice, with pear quite prominent in the mouth. The alcohol is pronounced, but is a broad chassis on which the bodywork of a beautifully balanced IPA sits.

It continues with notes of toffee and fruit, but the length of it is increasingly bitter and rather complicated. One might expect a burst of hops at the finish in an IPA style, but this is more a blend of tastes, one of which certainly is bitter hops. The malt is succulent throughout, even in the aftertaste. Pear rattles around to the end and the overall effect is refreshment, surprising for such a strong ale.

This is an accomplished, complex and potent beer, to be drunk with care whilst musing on the nation's accomplished, complex and potent history.

7/10 - A fine example of an historical IPA reproduction. It's probably more consumer-friendly than the beers held in dark cargo holds that rolled their rain-lashed way to the the fringes of the empire.

- The Broadside

Ducks Folly (Goddard's)

Smells of toffee and fruity notes, instantly capturing the imagination as something a bit different.

Initial malt is followed by a wealth of flavours, all of which i struggle to pin down! Sweet but bitter malt, fruity notes, dates and raisins just some of those that made it to the note pad. The ABV is less well hidden with an alcoholic edge going toe to toe with the limited final bitterness.

6/10 An enigma of a beer, the hallmarks of a best bitter, but strong and full of fruity notes.

You can buy beer from the Isle of Wight here

Broadside (Adnams)

On pouring its a dark and moody brown, it smells of malt and caramel.

The taste is warming, full malt taste leads to a treacle sweetness coating the mouth. The finish is tangy with an almost burnt bitterness edge.

After a cold walk on a winters day this could be a rewarding treat by a fire, but for me it lacks a balance of flavours, and the alcohol content is not hidden.

2/10 Treacly malt, lacks the rounded flavours to hide the high alcohol.

Kindly provided by Adnams, buy a selection of their beers here.

Censored (Lagunitas)

So called because they were censored when they tried to call it "The Chronic", pours deep copper and smells very strongly of malt, freshly steeped malt to be precise.

This is really really malty, not overly sweet but full of malty goodness like a kilo of melted Maltesers. Gentle burnt smokiness with limited bitterness or traces of hops in the finish.

6/10 If Maltesers made beer it would taste like this.

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.

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.

Dutchy Originals Select Ale (Wychwood)

A bold ale with clear intent, strong aromas of raspberries and other summer fruit make their mark instantly.

A strong matured maltiness fills the palate, some sharper grapefruit flavours coming through. It finishes with a bitter and dry finish, leaving the strong nature of the beer hanging.

7/10 A mature beer of class.

ESB (Fullers)

Unleashes a wonderful array of aroma’s on pouring, perfect carbonation leaves this looking like a beautiful draught pint.

Like a rich fruitcake filled with dried fruits and exotic spices this beer fills the mouth providing a diverse explosion of sweet fruity flavours. Hints of brandy and juicy sultanas add luxury to an already decadent beer, the finish conjures up tastes of a spicy Christmas chutney or a luxury marmalade.

8/10 Pure luxury, as if Delia Smith herself was adding cake mixture at the brewery.

Check out the full range here

Bishop's Finger (Shepherd Neame)

This ale looks like very few others, it has an intriguing brown ruby colour to it.

This ale also tastes like very few others, I'd be amazed if anyone as ever had a bottle of this and not thought "ooh whats this?"

It has a very strong malty taste, with very little sweetness either at the start or the end, or the middle come to mention it. Combined with the hops and that "distinctive" Neame yeast it leaves the taste buds bullied, beaten and dry as sandpaper. There isn't another ale around i could compare this too, and I am not sure I am brave enough to try.

Where to enjoy : Surrounded by lager drinkers you don't want to switch to ale, one sip of this and they won't make the leap in this lifetime.

2/10 Some may love this and its "distinctive" full flavours, not me.

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.