Elsie Mo (Castle Rock)

Pours crystal clear pale gold, like summer sun on a window, perfect fizz.

The nose is heavily zesty, lemon and big dominating elderflower. The malt is bordering on non existent, a dash of sweetness that is quickly battered down by a snap of bitterness and a long lingering lemon.

5/10 If you like your beers zesty and with elderflower twist it's probably right up your street, sadly I live several postcodes away.

Wild Swan (Thornbridge)

Pours with fizzy like a run away train, creating a big foamy snow drift head. The aroma Lemon in abundance, maybe hints of vanilla.

The opening malt is very thin as one may expect with a beer so pale, and only 3.5%Abv, hints of sweetness are soon blasted away with big hits of lemon bitterness. In that usual Thornbridge style there is a tropical fruit edge to the finish, mixed with that citrus bitterness. The final finishing note is a slight spiciness, almost peppery.

5/10 Zingy Citrus, but not much else, sadly a rather thin summer beer offering.

Chimera Dark Delight (Downton)

After drinking the superb Chimera IPA from Downton Brewery I was looking forward to this Dark Delight.
Pours with an immense amount of fizz, a dark brown, lighter than expected. The nose is light coffee, but more intriguingly a plummy fruitiness.

The roasted malt dominates, giving a rather sharp taste that cuts through the palate, gentle hints of caramel. Fruity berry notes are noticeable but not overpowering, leaving a finish that is rather tangy.

5/10 A rather disappointing ale that lacks any clear character, too sharp and tangy.

Porter (Sierra Nevada)

Pours as close to black as you can get, only narrowest waves of light pass through. The aroma is shy and unassuming, hints of toffee and roasted malt, but no big coffee or hop aromas.

The initial taste is dominated by a big malt, roasted to the edge of stout, delivering bitterness without sharpness and gentle sweet undertones. A rather smooth middle leads to a finish that refuses to assert a dominant claim on the beer, mellow hop bittering mixed with the slightest of toffee sweetness.

5/10 A capable balanced porter, but lacks anything to distinguish it from even the most average rivals.

Nutz (Bowman)

I approached this one nervously. I like nuts, have nothing against them and like the rest of the public, sometimes only nuts will do with beer - but in beer? We're open minded here, and I'll not let the unforgivable txt-spk spelling of 'nuts' sway my opinion.

Bowman Ales hail from Hampshire, and have a taste for the experimental, having brewed with both ginger and elder flowers.

I have a habit of holding bottles up to the light to check for yeast sediment, and this time I saw actual small nut segments sitting in the deeps. The bottle opens with a gentle whiff of the nut, but not overpoweringly so, it's mostly fine hoppy beer smells.

The head is initially fizzy tending to thin, and the colour a deep chestnut (tout naturellement). On the taste it's not at all bad, and certainly beats the various "beers brewed with honey" I've had, such as Slater's and Well's. In fact, only Well's Banana Bread Beer (must review it here) seems to work as light-strength supermarket speciality beer to my experience so far.

The initial taste is beery and not unpleasant. Light malt arrives in a taxi driven by a couple of nuts, and then more nuts get in the back. The nut thing increases through the length of it, hand in hand with a sort of demerara sugar lilt . It's toasty and spicy on the tongue, and the finish is bitter but leaves a grippy, not entirely beautiful aftertaste on the back of the tongue. The 5%abv alcohol makes itself known in the background and mild bitterness rears up at the death.

As the pint goes down, I tire a little of the taste. It ought to be recognised for what it is, and that is not a session beer. It's an odd sort of early/mid evening ale, and for nut fans, maybe it's nirvana. For me, it's a bit of a struggle to finish a whole pint in quick-order, but that's not to say I didn't enjoy it at times.

5/10 - Competent and interesting speciality ale, I'm happy to have tried it the once.

- The Broadside

Worthington's White Shield IPA (Coors) - 5.6%abv

The IPA White Shield was first made for Bass in the 1960's, and brewer Steve Wellington came out of retirement to recreate it once more. The bottle notes that White Shield "matures with age" and their site proclaims it has a "massive taste and full to bursting mouthfeel."

The bottle certainly looks the business, and for a real ale buff has the frequently used lures of an antique militaristic design and lots of text describing important things. It pours a deep ruddy copper, and the sticky head hangs about for some time.

The nose is rather smoky, with a big sign saying "here be hops", in the manner expected of a good IPA. The taste is somewhat of a battering ram. Fleeting biscuit malt is swiftly overpowered by a stormtroop of hops, with shades of bitter orange - although I fail to pick out the "faintest whiff of exotic cheese" mentioned by the brewery (eew).

It's assertive enough but not in a way I find all that pleasant. The various flavours jangle around like large primary coloured bits of furniture in a room in which you expected to find a bold unified design, and it's a little too much for The Broadside. I feel a little mean as all the IPA checkboxes are marked - very hoppy, complex, quite alcoholic - but the trump card, the checkbox that has a double border - taste, just doesn't get firmly marked enough.

It has a long length, a ski-jump of bittering that skates into the sour a bit too much for my tastes, although others may enjoy this aspect. If a rodeo-ride of an IPA is what you're after, do give this a try, but for me others do it better.

5/10 - An IPA with a good history, it's just too discordant on the palate to find a permanent home in my cupboards.

- The Broadside

Lucky Beer (Lucky Drink Co.)

I've not reviewed a lager on here yet, but this one looked so unusual I thought I'd have a crack at it.

Lucky Beer is available in Tesco, and brewed in China under license from an Australian company (I think).

The bottle is striking, a jade curved affair, blown to represent a cackling Bhudda holding what looks like half a revel above his head, although it could equally be a sombrero or a portion of a Cadbury's creme egg.

The beer is fizzy and it pours pale. Their website says it's a fusion of "rice, malted barley and Qingdao hops", so a Tsingtao-mastered rice taste was expected, all cleanliness and refreshment.

On the nose, it's a snatch of metallic lemon. On the tongue it's watery with a twist of citrus zest, framed against the half-noticed backdrop of some other vegetable I don't know. It's quenching, and not unpleasant, although it's ideal environment would be beside a lazy-susan stacked with take away.

Clocking in at 4.8% ABV, it's the definition of a Bunker Grade 5 for me - one to hand out at parties and not grieve too much about the stocks being depleted. The flavours skate about a bit, none of them enduring enough to give this beer any lasting character.

5/10 Interesting, but the other assembled ales in the Broadside Armoury need have no fear of being replaced.

- The Broadside

East Green (Adnams)

Pours crystal clear gold with a head as white as pure snow. Smells of light caramel.

Initial sharp fruity flavours of grapefruit and melon, followed by a smooth creamy middle malt. Finishes with lingering citrus and grassy hints.

5/10 A light golden beer with packed with plenty of citrus.

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

New Belgium Beer Selection - USA

Picked up this New Belgium selection box at the local Mini Mart in Austin Texas, here's what i thought

Fat Tire - The lead brew, a lovely malty beer with limited sweetness and a gentle dose of hops to finish, quite a distinctive middle biscuit bite. 6/10

Mothership Wit - A delicious wheat beer, light zesty, gentle sweetness, spicy cardamon notes. 7/10

Skinny Dip - Their Spring seasonal, dry bitter maltiness initially, with a fresh lingering lime aftertaste. Similar to the Fat Tire but with the noticeable lime finish. 5/10

1554 - Brewed to an old Belgium recipe taken from records dating back this far. Bitter chocolate flavours with zero sweetness and a dry finish. Not one for me sadly. 1/10

The Mothership wins it, a great wheat beer.

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

Spitfire (Shepherd Neame)

Well, they maybe "Britain's Oldest Brewery" but they are certainly one of a very few brewers who use clear glass bottles. For me this spoils the excitement of a the pour a bit, its like finding your Christmas presents under the tree wrapped in cling film.

It pours a lovely light toffee colour, there is initial sweetness combined with a dry bitterness, followed by some unexpected delicate toffee notes, not what i was expecting.

It certainly has that Shepherd Neame distinctive yeast flavour, I'm sure some people must love it, but for me it cuts through the flavours and swamps them like a bag of dry roasted peanuts.

Where to drink : Parties where you don't know anyone, take a carrier bag of these with you, you won't mind dishing them out if required, you won't be labeled as a boring ale-man or as uncool, and if all else fails you can just enjoy them on your own.

5/10 thanks to those toffee high notes.