Thermal Cheer (Purbeck Brewery)

Pops open with little fuss, light carbonation gives a delicate foam head whilst pouring. It's a deep chestnut brown with hints of ruby.

The nose is of brown sugar and dark caramel, with a hint of zingy freshness in the background. The malt is warming, rich and almost Belgian in its complexity. The middle has some rich fruitcake and spicy notes, none of the trademark charcoal of the brewery's yeast. It finishes with gentle linger of bittering, no bit stamp, and distinctive peppery notes.

A solid beer where the malt is allowed to take centre stage away from any giant hop explosion. One to try if you like your beers malty and nourishing.

8/10 A spicy rich winter warmer
Thanks to Purbeck Brewery for providing, if your in Dorset I heartly recommend you pay a vist to their fantastic Banks Arms Pub

You can catch their beers around the country as guests, and at the stunning The Banks Arms pub, their summer Beer festival is legendary, worthy of planning your holiday around.

Mighty Blond (Mighty Hop)

Pours with a lovely bottle conditioned fizz, more golden amber than the bleached blonde you would expect from the bottle. Citrus and a rather dry herbal aroma.

The malt is on the dry side of balanced, beautifully pronounced. The middle has a smoky charcoal edge to it, presumably a characteristic of the yeast, very similar to the Purbeck beers. The final bittering is a lovely stamp of hops, lingering with noticeably grassy notes and hint of citrus.

7/10 A lovely beer, not the Blonde expected, but a classy golden brunette instead.

Hopping Hare (Badger)

Beautiful clear gold, pours with great carbonation and a lovely foamy head. The aroma is grassy, almost earthy, with a slight hint of caramel.

Opens with a welcoming mellow malt, building to a delicious sweet caramel, and big biscuit crunch, like a caramel covered digestive!

No big sharp bitterness in the finish, just wonderfully diverse floral tones that meet up with the last linger of malty caramel. Hints of smooth cream soda fade right into the finish.

8/10 A cracking floral caramel wonder. A spring beer now available all year round, one to seek out.

Harry's Havest Pale Ale (Purbeck)

Beautiful smells burst out on pouring, wet summer grass, delicate floral notes, even gentle fruit. The colour is a lovely Amber with perfect BC carbonation.

An initially unassuming malt develops into gentle sweetness and crisp dryness in equal measure. The Purbeck yeast normally gives a dominant middle of charcoal smokiness, but in this beer its far more mellow, even offering more biscuity notes instead. The finish is beautiful, a perfectly measured bang of hops, not a blunt numbing of bitterness but a delicate whirlwind of fresh crisp citrus, and lingering dry pepper.

8/10 A fantastic fresh and balanced hop wonder. Perfect crisp refreshment.

IPA (Isle of Purbeck Brewery)

A deep golden brown beer, very clear. Lovely grassy charcoal smell.

Rich malty start, the limited sweetness is soon matched and over powered by predominant bitterness. Brief glimpses of fruit followed by that unique Purbeck yeast character giving a gentle smoky charcoal taste that lingers to the finish. The finish is crisp and dry, noticeably hopped, but perhaps lacking a bit of diversity in the linger.

7/10 Another very good ale from Purbeck, malty, dry and bitter.

Fossil Fuel (Purbeck)

It pours a deep clear gold. Wonderful aroma, fresh grass, sweet floral smells, noticably hoppy.

Fresh sweet initial taste, no big malty dryness, more like gentle honey. The middle is the trade mark Purbeck middle smokiness, a lovely yeasty crunch of charcoal and also hints of biscuit.

A crisp bitterness follows, noticeably well hopped with gentle citrus protruding. The finish is beautifuly diverse with a wealth of gentle hop flavours.

7/10 A lovely golden ale, well hopped with a noticably crisp finish. One for summer days or thirsty folk.

A big thanks to the Isle of Purbeck Brewery for providing these beers for review.

Studland Bay Wrecked (Purbeck)

Pours deep amber, gives off a powerful toffee nose, a sweet smelling delight.

Full on malty tastes from the start, sweetness balanced with a spark of initial bittering, and a flash of dryness. The limited carbonation in this gives it the smoothness of a draught pint.

The middle has a wonderful gentle smokiness (I think this is a personal characteristic of their yeast). A perfectly balanced gentle bitter finish, a wonderful creamy toffee taste coats the mouth and begins begging the hand for another sip.

8/10 Delightful, like smooth draught ale in a bottle, toffee, malt, and critically balance.

Cricket (Badger)

In Manchester it's City or United. In 'ocker' country in Australia you drive a Ford or a Holden. In Bournemouth as an ale fan, you head for a Ringwood or Badger pint.

I fall fairly squarely into the first camp, certainly from the pump.

To be bashed over the head of a night I'd rather recline in the warm, threatening, willowy embrace of Old Thumper than trip mantrap-locked through the pitfalls of Tanglefoot. Similarly, for a character step-up from Best, 49er ticks all the boxes for me. That Ringwood ale's Willy Wonka burnt toffee finish is an exquisite performer on the buds, and to my taste a yard up from most of the Badger "gold" beers found elsewhere.

However, from the bottle Ringwood seems to let it's arrow slip wide of the mark. The phenomenon of pump-bottle differences is well discussed elsewhere, but only Old Thumper seems to stand up. Thumper's heady potency creeps ably into the bottle like a Hampshire genie sleeping stealthily in a brown glass lamp, it's only two wishes to grant being tasty pleasure and walking issues with gravity.

How, then, fares Badger? Today's tasting is of the rarely-seen and possibly new 'Cricket', found at Tesco in a cheery yellow label, it's strapline promising "harmonious notes of lemongrass". The Broadside was dubious, and images of past unfortunate experiences with Thai cooking hove into the mind's view as he lifted it into the trolley.

The cap lifted off with a startled gasp akin to an HGV air-brake, so we can tell this is a boisterous little guest. The head, as imperfect yet characterful as the Sphinx, reinforced the impression as it poured jovially into the glass. The colour was deeply ochre, a terracotta tile of a shade, which promised fudgy frivolity.

First taste impressions - festivals, laying on grass, a not-unpleasant sortie on the tongue of a zingy, characterful tipple. The opening note is as crunchy as a spiced-up rich tea, with vast grainy hops disguising the relatively weak 4.4% strength.

The Broadside's taste experience enters phase II as the middle cackles up a basket of fruit and veg, although none he's tasted before. This may be lemongrassy, or star or dragon-fruity, a range of colliding citrus tastes piling across like an untidy round of Tetris.

The finishing note is prolonged and gamey, and not for my taste. I'll return to the festival pint comparison, in that this is a beer that would sit well with an experience out rather than a night in with just the TV and this long woolly carpet of an aftertaste. From that night out this taste would remind you of that time: this is a waymark of a beer, a cairn-like memory-jogger, like the glance of a distinctive exotic lady happily recalling time well spent.

To mark this characterful yellow firework I'd hazard a 6, although if 6.5 were available I'd jot that on the card. A happy summer effort from Badger, and I'd have gone higher were it not for that overlong postscript taste, which loiters like the last guest at a party who wants to keep talking about the party.

6/10 - If you see it, you'd do a lot worse than pop it in the basket, although make sure you have an event planned for that crackly opening moment.

- The Broadside