Xmas dinner was accompanied by a drop of Innis & Gunn Triple Matured which Ed sampled back in November and I pretty much concur with his conclusions on this one: toffee, vanilla, a little oak, generally smooth with a pleasantly bitter-sweet finish. I also cracked open a bottle of Meantime Winter Time, which I wrote up during my Meantime series last year. Unfortunately, I was too busy tucking into my grub to pay much more attention than last time, so I'll have to come back to that one for a third attempt at some point.

Next up was a bottle of Greene King Abbott Reserve (6.5% abv) which turned out to be incredibly tasty; much more so that I'd expected, I have to admit. Another smooth, strong beer with a pleasant citrusy tang (I detected orange zest and nutmeg without any help from accompanying a mince pie). Quite sweet but with a bitter under-current that stopped it tasting too sugary. Definitely one I'd go back to again.

Boxing Day was spent driving to and from family in Leeds, so I only had time for a couple of beers when I got back home: first up was William Worthington's White Shield (5.6% abv, bottle conditioned). At 5.6% I suppose it's just about within the realms of acceptability for an IPA, but it poured with more fizz and a lot more sweetness than I've come to expect from the style. Not horrible, per se, but far from the best I tasted last year. And it is brewed by industrial giant Coors, so perhaps allowances have to be made and expectations lowered as a result?

After that one I went for a bottle of Williams Bros Midnight Sun (5.6% abv). This porter seemed to be a fairly classic example of the style: a slightly sour whiff in the bottle, a very dark ebony with a tan head, a spicy, faintly smoky, sweet coffee flavour that was smooth and very drinkable. Another good contender for a regular slot in the beer cupboard.

The weekend brought another driving stint up and down the country to the in-laws' and by the time Jo and I had spent at least half of the (unusually long at four hours) journey to Bridgnorth stuck in a standing-wave tailback on the M6, I definitely needed a couple of beers and I was hoping that another strong ale from Greene King - this time Old Crafty Hen (6.5% abv) - would hit the spot quite nicely. It turned out to have a hoppy nose, citrusy flavours and a surprisingly deft touch for such a strong beer. Alas, that deft touch meant that whilst it was decidedly drinkable, it lacked much in the way of character and was rather un-memorable as a result. A symptom of larger brewery mass-production, perhaps? Or maybe it's just one of those beers that's much better on draught. I preferred the Abbot Reserve, definitely.

I opened a bottle of Hall and Woodhouse Badger Pickled Partridge (4.5% abv) next and alas it was another fairly indistinct one, albeit quite pleasant and quite drinkable again. Very malty, with light spice notes and a lingering bitterness to the after-taste. Not much else to write home about. I've had a much better Badger beer recently, which I'll be writing up before too long (all being well).

The next day produced much better results. Jo's folks live not too far at all from The Bull's Head at Chelmarsh, which - following a change of management a couple of years back - is a great food and ale pub, well worth checking out if you're down that way. I nipped down after Sunday lunch for a pint with brother-in-law Richard and opted for a drop of Dorothy Goodebody's Christmas Stocking (4.2% abv? -ish?), a seasonal ale from Wye Valley. Extremely nice it was, too, with distinct cinnamon and nutmeg spices; very easy-drinking indeed and neither too heavy nor too sweet. More enjoyable than the Plum Duff, certainly.

I was back down the pub in the evening, with Jo and her folks, for an Irish folk session laid on by landlord John and some of his mates. This time I decided to try another draught Wye Valley brew, their Hereford Pale Ale. At 4% abv it was a light, highly quaffable, golden pale ale that made for a great session beer - I stayed with that one for the next couple of pints as well - with a fresh, faintly citrus flavour and a very dry, hoppy finish. Good stuff!

But the scooper in me was sorely tempted by a third draught ale from Wye Valley: Dorothy Goodbody's Golden Ale and so I switched to that one for my final pint of the evening. I'm glad to say that I wasn't at all disappointed. Very similar to the HPA, but with less strident hop notes and a maltier finish. Altogether a very pleasant end to a very good evening (the music was more than half-decent, too). If only they'd had Dorothy Goodbody's Wholesome Stout on as well... but that's one to keep an eye out for another time.

I finished the seasonal Bridgnorth run with a visit to the town's specialist wine merchant, Tanner's, and picked up a selection of local brews that are now awaiting their turn in the beer cupboard. More on those in due course.

And there you have it. Not the entire Holiday beer session, I have to admit. There are a few others that I will be writing up separately, but that's the bulk of my last ten days' beer sampling. Mostly good, one or two indifferent, none bad enough to pour down the sink. Not a bad result at all.

Okay, so Christmas is over but as this ale's full name is "Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2008" I can justify posting this. That and I only got the bottle yesterday.

Anchor have been brewing their Christmas Ale since 1975, and each year they change the label and the recipe. The former features a different tree each time (the current one is a Jeffrey Pine, according to the Pint Log) while the latter remains a secret. This is my first year sampling this so I'm no position to compare it with previous incarnations.

Enough preamble, on with the pouring and tasting. Anchor suggest on their website that this be refridgerated if being stored for any length of time but there's no mention on the label of serving chilled, so at I did so at room temperature (plus it seems strange to me to serve a winter beer chilled, although maybe not so in California). It's a very dark, virtually opaque, brown with just a hint of red when held up to the light. The aroma is at first malty, with some caramel biscuity qualities and a touch of light fruit. All very complex and a bit of a mystery - maybe pine to match the label? The taste is just as interesting a mix. Malt comes through straight away, with some chocolate and fresh herbs (some of those secret ingredients) and I'm fairly sure I detected a touch of butterscotch in there too. All very smooth, but with a slight bitterness coming through to add a little bit of bite to the finish. Lovely stuff.

A quick read on their website reveals that the Butcombe Brewery has been operating for 30 years, with the Gold beer introduced in 1998. As befits the name its a rich golden colour (the pic, courtesy of the brewery's website, does a good job of illustrating this), and gives off a lovely light and fresh floral aroma, with a touch of citrus. The flavour is very hoppy, but with a disconcerting dry mouthfeel which tends to detract from the refreshment I would expect an ale of this sort to provide. In keeping with this dryness the finish is quite grassy and earthy, and not particularly pleasant. Lovely to look at and smell, but not one I'll be drinking again.

Just time to slot in another Christmas ale review. I'll be the first to admit we've been very lax on this seasonal subject but, and I can't vouch for the others, I haven't seen very much Christmas themed beer on the shelves the past few weeks.

Rosey Nosey is a dark copper colour, with a strong fruity, malty aroma. The first thing I noticed on tasting was the dry texture, not really what I was expecting from a Christmas ale. The flavour starts off with hop bitterness mixed with dried fruit, followed up with some red wine/sherry notes and a grassy/vegetative finish. This latter element tends to dominate the flavour to its detriment, and I found the dryness too pervasive. Doubt I'll be having this one again.

The Boggart Brewery (or the Boggart Hole Clough Brewery to give it the full moniker on the website) is an independent outfit based in North Manchester - not too far at all from where I live - that's been in business since 2000. I've been meaning to track down some of their beers for a while, so when I found myself passing the Manchester city centre farmer's market a few weeks ago on the way back from a trip to London, I grabbed a three-pack of assorted stouts and porters (which set me back a tenner, iirc).

Chocolat Noir (no info on the Boggart website) is the first of the three I've sampled and I was quite impressed, I have to say. It's a quaffable 4.2% abv stout, with a faintly sour aroma in the bottle, that pours a classic ebony with hints of ruby red and starts off with a good frothy head. Mouth-feel is very pleasant and the flavour is a shot of pure mocha - an extremely tasty blend of coffee and chocolate that wouldn't be out of place in your high-street boutique café of choice - and with a lingering bitterness to the after-taste.

It was much smoother and richer than, say, Guinness original (which - in the interests of research and accurate comparison - I sipped out of my missus' glass when she wasn't looking), and compares quite favourably to the likes of the Daleside Chocolate Stout that I sampled recently. All in all, I'd be quite happy to come back to this one, although with the still-superior Meantime London Stout available at 3 for £4 in Tesco at the moment, I'd have to have a good reason to shell out the extra.

Supporting local producers and cutting down on road-miles, y'say? Yeah, that might just swing it... :)

The BrewDog press release sums up the lads' reaction to the decision:

"It is a victory for common sense, the intelligence of the consumer, small independent producers and freedom of speech; it is a victory that BrewDog had to fight tooth and nail for. We refused to roll-over and be bullied into changing our packaging by what is basically a cartel funded by our larger competitors. We were determined and stood our ground to keep our dream and our business alive."

Let's hope that a similar announcement will be forthcoming regarding the Sinclair's Orkney Brewery's Skull Splitter vs Portman Group case before too long, eh? Nothing on the Orkney Brewery news page just yet (or on Google News), but they might be slow in posting.

Back to BrewDog's outspoken spokesman James Watt for a further comment on the situation:

"A few weeks ago I (James Watt) publicly called for the Portman Group to be permanently disbanded and banished into Room 101. I feel that their misguided, catastrophic campaign against us only serves to strengthen that call."

I think James is right... and I think it will be the drinks industry giants - the corporate members of the Portman Group - that will pull the plug.

It seems to me that this whole farcical situation has been an absolutely classic example of a twentieth century bureaucracy completely failing to grasp the realities of the modern era. In the past, I'm sure the Portman Group was able to confidently throw its weight around against targets both legitimate and scapegoat without much fear of comeback or reprisal. But now they're having to come to terms with opinion power on a hitherto unprecedented scale, conveyed via social media.

In the past the best a small brewery could probably hope for was a standard protest against the Portman Group's decision, knowing that this wouldn't really help them because that protest would be controlled and contained within the strictures laid down by the Portman Group's own procedures. But now, that same small brewery is able to take that protest to an external and sympathetic audience; to amplify its voice by gathering support from across the globe, from fans and customers, from experts, from lobby groups such as CAMRA.

What's more, that process of opinion gathering and protest amplification can serve to turn the spotlight back onto the Portman Group's own corporate members and the inherent hypocrisy of their own business practices. Suddenly the industry cartel's own pressure group becomes a lens through which attention is focused back on the cartel's own activities. So for that reason alone, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Portman Group wasn't quietly disbanded at some point in the next twelve months and its demise conveniently blamed on the credit crunch.

McEwan's Champion is part of the Scottish & Newcastle conglomerate's stable of beers and these days is made at Joe Gordon's much-beloved Caledonian brewery (not that they own up to it on their website).

I cracked this one open immediately after pouring that bottle of Marston's Owd Rodger down the sink and was initially a little worried that this was going to go the same way. But no, luckily it wasn't that bad.

Champion poured a dark chestnut brown with a cream-coloured (but not particularly creamy) head. Flavour-wise, it was another very sweet one: hints of meringue, toffee, fudge and caramel (a veritable sweet-shop in a glass), but there was an undercurrent of bitterness running through the sugary maelstrom; enough to keep it vaguely in check, or enough to make it drinkable, at least.

It's definitely not one I'll be dashing back to - if only for the sake of my tooth-enamel - as there are much, much better beers of a similar strength and greater palatability out there. But it wasn't actually, y'know, nasty...

Firstly, the BrewDog Paradox Longrow and Paradox Springbank that I ordered the other day arrived this afternoon, along with a couple of very handsome BrewDog pint glasses. So that means I'll have no fewer than four bottles of head-fucking rocket fuel potentially delicious strong stout to try over the Xmas break, for a start. Which is nice.

Added to that, I've got a bottle of Innis & Gunn Triple Matured (which Ed sampled recently), plus one of Wychwood's Plum Duff, which apparently isn't their seasonal beer for December 2008: they have one called Winter's Troll (see what they did there?) instead, but I haven't seen any on the shelves of my regular supermarket haunts.

Speaking of beers not being on the shelves, I went looking for Morrissey Fox's seasonal ale - or their Best Bitter, which is meant to be a bit tasty - in my local Tesco the other day, but all they had was the blonde ale as usual. (Quick aside: you'd think that, what with all the attention they'd been drumming up for themselves recently, the MoFo boys would have bothered to update their website with something other than the same crappy holding page by now, eh?) Neither have I been able to find any of the Shepherd Neame Christmas Ale 2008 (which Ed also sampled recently).

Anyhow, back to the cupboard. There are a couple more strong ales in there that I've been saving for a dreary December day: Greene King's Abbot Reserve and Morland Old Crafty Hen (also brewed by Greene King, although when I tried to find some official info online, I ended up stuck on their bloody infuriating Old Speckled Hen website) both of which look like they ought to be able to warm my cockles in fairly short order, all being well.

And I'm planning on revisiting Meantime's Winter Time in the near future and hope to take a more detailed set of notes than on my first attempt. I will, of course, be letting you know how I get on...

Billed as a sister beer to Bombardier, Wells and Young's reckon this should appeal to ale and lager drinkers. They may well be correct on the latter but I'm not convinced about the former.

As you can see from the picture this beer is aptly named, it's a lovely orangey gold colour. Opening the bottle and we get a light citrus fruit aroma of lemons and limes, pleasant but quite restrained, presumably so as not to frighten off those lager drinkers. The flavour continues with the light citrus hop character, with a dry, grassy finish which only serves to add some harshness and stop the whole thing from being a refreshing, if uneventful, drop. Overall, Burning Gold doesn't amount to much and I certainly have no burning desire to have another.

Almost before I knew what was happening, a stout-coloured mist had descended and I found myself clicking the 'Buy' button: coughing up £25.00 (less 10% with the BLOG discount code and £28.50 in total with an additional £6 for postage on top) for the Xmas Box Set containing three bottles of each and additionally tempted, I'm sure, by the rather natty DrewDog beer glasses they've thrown in for good measure. I know. £28.50 for six bottles of beer is a tad pricey. I sincerely hope the stuff is worth it (although I rather suspect it will be...)

Anyhow, BrewDog are promising next-day delivery as well, so if the consignment does arrive by Saturday I'll be able to add Paradox Springbank and Paradox Longrow into the tasting of the Paradox Smokehead and Rip Tide stouts that I've tentatively planned for the weekend. Then again, maybe that'd be just too much of a good thing all in one go, eh? Perhaps I should save the new ones for next Thursday, say, round about dinner time..? We'll see.

Father Christmas was there when I bought this.  Not shopping - I don't think he shops in Asda - but sitting around in a shed charging little kids to go and see him.  I wonder if my kids have ever noticed that ... the fact that Santa charges for them to go and chat with him for two minutes then get a present?  I doubt it, and that's nice.  Oh to be a kid again.

This is a lovely drop.  I've sampled it many times, but I don't think anyone has blogged about it here, so I thought it was about time.  It pours a lovely golden brown, maintaining a generous head all the way down the glass.  It's a very smooth ale-perhaps too creamy? - but the taste more than makes up for that.  Rich, complex, beginning banana-sweet and ending with a definite coffee aftertase, though not too cloying.  You can taste the strength of this one too, and after a couple of bottles you can feel it.

Santa noticed that I'd bought a couple of bottles of this, and he made admiring noises.  But his nose was red enough already.  It was only 2pm, and he had hours to go, so I promised him - in front of my kids - that I'd leave him a nice glass of single malt on Christmas Eve.  He didn't seem as pleased as I'd hoped.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I've had good and bad experiences with strong ales and I'm afraid I have to say that Owd Rodger was definitely one of the worst.

It poured a thick, treacly black-brown with an effervescent head (actually, it was positively fizzy), which quickly went flat. One sip and my teeth were screaming for mercy: this stuff was incredibly sweet. Nauseatingly so, in fact; a bit like cough mixture laced with golden syrup. In fact, it turned out to be undrinkably sweet... another mouthful went down me, just to check (yep, still quite revolting) and then the rest went down the sink...

Oddly, this is the second beer that I've ended up tipping rather than tippling in the past couple of months. The other was also a Marston's brew: Firestoker.

This one poured a pleasing, golden amber colour and the taste was okay to start with, but quickly developed into a weird, chemical tang that, once again, was massively sweet. It reminded me of cheap, nasty toffee, or those sugar-foam sweets in the shape of prawns (of all things) that we used to get when we were kids. The label claims a 'light vanilla' character, but I reckon someone must have jogged the brewer's elbow when he was tipping in the essence.

I'll not be dropping in on either of these two again while my memory holds up, that I can promise you.

I first drank Nightmare Stout (or Nick Stafford's Hambleton Ales Nightmare Stout, to give it the full moniker on the label) in Brigantes in York, when Jo and I stopped in for some rather tasty grub (the details of which escape me, but I know I tucked in heartily) a few months ago. I noted at the time that Nightmare stout was a very rich, creamy, dark ruby-red beer; quite sweet, with a chocolatey flavour and a tangy after-taste. Again, I remember being mightily impressed and would have stayed for a couple more if we weren't on the way to a do at the York Brewery.

So when we were next in York and I found myself passing Bottles - a small, but impressively well-stocked specialist beer merchant on one of the city's main tourist drags - with just enough time to nip in and grab the one bottle, this was the one I made a b-line for.

Sampling it last Friday evening I was pleased to discover that the bottled version is almost as impressive as the draught. This one poured a thick, almost opaque black and was slightly effervescent, making for a very pleasant mouth-feel. This time I noted a more herbal tang to go with the chocolatey notes; cough-drops was what sprang to mind (although in an entirely good way, I hasten to add) along with a touch of citrus. As you might expect, the bottled version wasn't as rich as the draught pint, but it was still an extremely satisfying brew.

I'll be keeping an eye out for it on future visits to York, that's for sure. And if I can find a local retailer that stocks the bottled version, then that will do nicely for the time being.

Daleside Chocolate Stout is a beer with a big flavour that belies its slight strength. Pouring a completely opaque black with a frothy tan-coloured head, this one didn't have much of an aroma, but it more than made up for it in the flavour department. Lots and lots of chocolate and faint coffee notes, with just a possible hint of tangy raspberries in there somewhere, all delivered via a lovely, smooth mouth-feel.

Quite delicious and, whilst not quite as characterful as, say, Meantime London Stout, or as intense as Meantime Chocolate, this would still be one that I'd definitely be interested in drinking again.

Having said that, this is the last of the bottles I picked up in the Vineyard off-license in Belfast back in August and they don't do mail-order, so I'll have to look for an alternate source if I do want to get this one again. Either that or a trip over Harrogate way might be in order, see if I can find the stuff on draught.

Badger First Gold has a very dry, hoppy nose and pours a deep, rich chestnut brown. Flavour was nutty and warm, with a good balance between malt and hops; mouth-feel was smooth with a lingering dryness. All in all, it reminded me of a more cultured version of Newcastle Brown.

A very pleasant drop indeed, much more fully-flavoured than the majority of the similar-strength beers I've tried this year. It would make a very good session beer on draught, I'm sure. Plenty of character without being too over-powering, you really could keep going on this one all night, with perhaps the occasional Poacher's Choice to spice things up a little.

Out last night at The Met in Bury (to see English folk music royalty Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, with assorted friends, performing some traditional seasonal tunes) I was pleasantly surprised to discover a small selection of bottled ales on offer at the bar, in amongst the tins of Guinness, John Smith's, Boddingtons (ach, spit!), Carling and so forth. Knowing I'd only have time for the one, I opted for the most interesting-looking: Carn Brea Scuttled; a 5.5% ale with - as it turns out after some research this morning - a somewhat turbulent recent history.

Apparently it was originally a Cornish brew, produced by the Ring o' Bells brewery, until they went bust. Then, according to a quick summary on ratebeer.com, production was moved to Keltek, but has since ended up at Hepworth's in West Sussex, where as far as I can tell it's still brewed today.

The beer itself was a pleasant mid-strength ale that poured a rich ruby red-brown with a very large head (not helped, I'm sure, by the dubious cleanliness of the Met's plastic pint-pot) that packed a plentifully malty punch, backed up with lots of fruit flavour: grapefruit predominated, but there was a rich, pudding-y date and raisin thing going on in the background as well. Later on, once things had warmed up a little and it had calmed down a bit I got some distinctly chocolatey notes as well.

All in all it was quite tasty (if not outstandingly so) and I'd be happy to give this one another go, especially if I ever spotted it on draught.

Apparently the new owners plan an expansion drive, bringing the York ales over to Lancashire and Cumbria, whilst expanding the number of pubs owned on the Yorkshire side of the Pennines. Heck, sounds like a damn good excuse to visit the Lake District to me.

Edit 12.12.08: Boak and Bailey have reported that Mitchell's Inns are also planning on opening a 'chain of independent pubs'. See the piece on their blog for an explanation. No they're not. Different Mitchell's (see comments...)

A few weeks back I placed an order for a mixed case of independent Scottish brewery BrewDog's Rip Tide Stout and Paradox Stout, partly to show my support for the brewery in their battle with the Portman Group, partly because I'm on something of a mission to find my perfect stout and I reckon these two could very well be contenders. Almost on a whim, I decided to order a case of BrewDog's 2009 prototypes as well and this is the selection that arrived a few days later:

Yesterday evening I finally got around to sorting out a sampling session (it would have been sooner, but a bout of food poisoning and then a weekend away put paid to that) and here's what I discovered:

BrewDog Bad Pixie Wheat Beer (4.7% abv)

First up was Bad Pixie, a wheat beer brewed with juniper and lemon zest to 4.7% abv (which, let's face it, is quite reserved and sedate for a BrewDog beer). I have to confess that I approached this one with mild trepidation: I have something of a gluten intolerance and whilst not out-and-out allergic, have usually shied away from anything too overtly wheat-based. Plus, Hoegaarden and I did not get on at all well, the one time I ventured there, so all-in-all, I can't say I was actively looking forward to this one...

Which is probably why I was pleasantly surprised when I cracked open the bottle and poured - the beer was a very pale, very golden colour (see photo, utilising my trusty Leffe balloon goblet) and not at all the murky, cloudy affair I was half-expecting. Aroma-wise there was a light fruitiness, although I had trouble pinning down the specifics. Mouth-feel was good and the flavour was, again, faintly fruity - the juniper and lemon, I assumed - and quite bitter. As the drink went on it developed a distinct dryness which came to dominate, along with a lingering after-taste of... brie. No, seriously. And I think it might have been blue brie at that.

In conclusion: I thought Bad Pixie was a bit of an odd one. Not as unpleasant an experience as I initially feared it might be, but definitely not my cup of tea, either. As I say, I'm no expert on the wheat beer style, so I don't know how if shapes up to other examples, but any beer with an after-taste of cheese would have to give me pause for thought in future.

Brewdog Zeit Geist Black Lager (5.1% abv)

Zeit Geist is a black lager which "takes inspiration from the Czech classics" and indeed, it reminded me very much indeed of the Herold Bohemian that I sampled a few weeks ago.

As you can see from the photo, it poured a lovely ebony colour (although with ruby highlights that you can't quite make out here) but that thick, frothy cream head disappeared in pretty short order. The aroma was smoky and spicy on the nose and the first sip provided a big hit of liquorice, which eventually settled down to something deeper, sweeter and fruitier. Jo suggested dried fruit and after thinking about it for a bit I came up with "barbecued raisins", which makes no sense whatsoever but seemed to sum up the flavour quite nicely. There was a hint of muscovadot sugar in there as well, which made me think of dark rum, and I expected to find a few coffee tones, but they weren't as obvious as I thought they might have been.

In conclusion: Zeit Geist is quite delicious and intense, but at the same time extremely more-ish. I reckon I could happily sit through a session on this one. I found it more flavoursome than the Herold and a lot more interesting than Leffe Brun - the other dark lager I'm best acquainted with. So, yes, if this one was produced on a larger scale then I'd definitely be interested.

BrewDog Chaos Theory IPA (7.1% ABV)

Described as "a deep copper IPA with insane hops", Chaos Theory really is a monster of a beer. The first thing you notice is its quite lovely colouring, which - as you can just about make out from the photo - lies somewhere between the advertised copper and a stronger ruby red. But it's the nose that really leaves a big impression: this beer has an absolutely incredible aroma, an immense fruity tang that really slaps you around the head when you take that first deep sniff and keeps on doing so right to the bottom of the glass.

Taste-wise, Chaos Theory is just as intense. A big slosh of alcohol is followed up by some incredibly complex sweet & sour fruit flavours: raspberries, stewed plums, bitter oranges, mangoes and more, all carried along by a gloriously rich mouth-feel and with a smoothness of finish that belies its strength and power.

In conclusion: Chaos Theory is one is a hell of a beer, and no mistake. A relentless onslaught of flavour upon flavour, it's definitely a sipper rather than a session beer and certainly not one for the faint-hearted. And this is the one was the eventual winner of the 2009 Prototype Challenge, has since gone into production and is available to buy from BrewDog.

To summarise, then: Bad Pixie wasn't for me, but it certainly wasn't awful. Chaos Theory is an incredible, huge beer that could give Meantime IPA a run for its money (although along a slightly different track) but I'm really not sure I could drink more than a glass or so at a time.

Instead, it was Zeit Geist that proved the overall winner for me. An interesting, tasty, highly-enjoyable variant on a style of beer that BrewDog haven't already brewed en masse, I rather wish that they'd decided to put this one into production instead of Chaos Theory. Not because Chaos Theory isn't a bloody good beer, but they already have their rather fantastic Punk IPA on the roster, so it seems a shame not to broaden their product base with something a little different. But maybe they'll relent and brew a batch or two of Zeit Geist in 2009 anyhow. In which case, they can be assured of an order from me.

I spent yesterday down in London for work-related reasons and booked a later-than-usual return train to Manchester in order to go out for a couple of after-work beers with a few of m'colleagues. Remembering that there's been a fair amount of buzz about Fuller's London Porter I asked if there was a Fuller's house within easy walking distance and was told by m'colleague Darren that yes, indeed, there was. Excellent! Or so I assumed...

The pub in question turned out to be The Harrow. Not a bad place, on first inspection - a proper drinking establishment that didn't stink of chips and wasn't belting out annoyingly loud music. But alas, a quick enquiry at the bar revealed that no, they weren't serving the London Porter. They just had the three pumps of London Pride, all lined up in a row (which suggested something of a lack of lateral thinking, if you ask me) and either Organic Honey Dew (a bit too sweet for my palate) or ESB in bottles.

What the heck, I thought, and opted for a pint of the London Pride. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. A faintly nutty bitter with a nice blend of malt and hop notes, it was drinkable and not unpleasant (unlike the pint of Greene King Fireside that I'd tried at the St Bride's Tavern at lunchtime, which was just rank - it must have been a bad pint). It just seemed to be a bit on the thin and watery side for my liking, with almost no head, just a few lonely bubbles floating around on the top. But then maybe that's how the regulars prefer it?

Anyhow, for my second drink I opted for a bottle of ESB, which I've sampled and enjoyed before. I wasn't disappointed with it this time, either. A more enticing aroma, a richer, stronger flavour, a superior mouthfeel; all-in-in-all a much more interesting and tasty beer than the Pride in just about every way. Although at 5.9% abv perhaps it was a good job I had to head off for my return train once I'd finished the glass.

So, The Harrow: nice pub, shame about the lack of London Porter. Maybe next time, eh?

Incidentally, I'd managed to score a First Class ticket back up to Manchester and the complimentary drinks trolley was offering a bitter... Fuller's London Pride. Served from a 300ml can into a plastic tumbler, it didn't actually taste all that different to the draft version. Oh, except that it had a better head. Hmmmm.

The shops are decked out with gaudily coloured trees and decorations, and incessantly pumping out really annoying seasonal tunes from their sound systems, so it must be Christmas already. As a bit of respite from all the madness that tends to blossom at this time of year, we can always settle down with a bottle or two of whatever Christmas beer the breweries have unleashed upon on us. I've got a couple in already so why wait until the day, I'll start on them early.

As noted above the bottle I sampled is the 330ml version, packaged in a cardboard presentation box, and not the 500ml boxless bottle I spotted recently in my local Co-Op, but I'm sure it tastes the same. It's dark amber in colour with a fruity aroma and a touch of caramel and spices. First impressions on tasting were of warm malts and alcohol, with an element of sugary sweetness and just a hint of hops. Some bitterness comes through in the finish. Despite the relatively high alcohol content it's not overpowering or cloying, coming across quite well balanced. Initially it's fairly easy drinking, but it soon becomes apparent that it's really quite heavy and deserves to be taken slowly. A reasonably respectable start to the seasonal ale tasting, I'll probably pick up the bigger bottle as comparison to see how it fares over a slightly longer tasting session.

Returning from a quick mid-week shop in sub-zero temperatures last night, I felt the need (not unjustifiably, I think) for a drop of a winter warmer to restore some feeling to my fingers. So I reached for the bottle of Ginger Tom that had been lurking in the beer cupboard since I picked it up in August (mildly ironically) as part of the Sainsbury's summer real ale promotion.

Ginger Tom is a blend of the Robinson's staple Old Tom, (which I sampled and enjoyed a couple of months ago) and Fentiman's Ginger Beer. Weighing in at 2.5% less than its big-bruiser of a brother, Ginger Tom isn't quite such a daunting prospect and still has enough body and character aplenty, resulting in a very satisfying brew.

Pouring an eye-catching chestnut brown with a thin, bubbly head, Ginger Tom has the sort of insistent, spicy aroma you'd expect, backed up by a rich, sweet, malty flavour. The ginger is there, but it's more of a background-note rather than the main theme. Unlike, say, fellow Greater Mancunian brewery Marble's Ginger Beer, which really does deliver a payload of hot and heavy spiciness to the tonsils, Ginger Tom has a far more subtle effect.

All in all, a very tasty drop and just what the internal thermostat ordered. I noticed that there was a Chocolate Tom variant in the Wetherspoon's Real Ale Festival this year, but alas, our paths didn't cross. One to keep an eye out for...

Meantime, back on Earth, anyone want to lay bets as to how long before the smegheads at the Portman Group claim that Space Beer glamourises alcohol and thus encourages underage space cadets to drink?

I like it when breweries give their beers mildly amusing names to help them stand out on the shelf and quite often there does appear to be reasons behind them. The catchily named Integrated Bottling Solutions don't appear to have a website but research would seem to indicate they were originally known as Wessex Craft Beers and now act as a bottling agent and distributor, rather than as an actual brewer. Information does seem to be a bit sketchy so I'll happily be corrected by anybody more knowledgeable. This particular beer is decked out with a cartoon footballer and is released to tie in with the start of the English football season, which goes some way to explain the name. However, I can think of another reason why it's appropriate.

Pouring a light amber colour the beer gives off a light hoppy aroma. This lightness follows through in the taste, with the barest hint of a citrus fruit flavour. And that's it. I really can't think of anything more to say about this quite bland and uneventful ale. So as far as I'm concerned the FA doesn't stand for football association.

By signing up to the mailing list, you can send an automatically generated email to your local MP asking that they join the campaign and protest the estimated 40% hike in beer duty this year (including the recently-announced rise intended to "off-set" the 2.5% drop in VAT that's supposed to rescue the ailing UK economy) that beer writers like Pete Brown have been vociferously challenging.

Head along to the site, sign up, show your support. Axe the Beer Tax!

What we have here is the Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer put through a lengthier maturation period, a whole 99 days in total, and the brewery decided to bottle some of it in a limited edition this year. I actually bought this a while back so stocks may well be depleted by now; there certainly wasn't any on the shelves when I was in Sainsburys yesterday. There isn't any information about this particular brew on the Innis & Gunn website, so I'll have to précis the blurb on the side of the box.

The beer is brewed using Optic and chocolate malt from Scotland and Goldings hops from Kent. It's then put into American white oak barrels and left to mature. Once they reckon the time is right the barrels are emptied into a marrying tun for further maturation, allowing the flavours from the individual barrels to blend together and mellow. Finally, the beer is poured into bottles and left to mature for another month. So is this lengthy and dedicated process worth the time and effort?

First up, the beer is a bit darker than the original, with an additional reddish tint to the dark brown colour. Opening the bottle, after letting it spend some time chilling in the fridge as per instructions, lets out that characteristic delightfully warm oakey aroma with a touch of toffee, very like a well-matured whisky. This really is one of the best smelling beers around. Onto the tasting and we get the familiar flavour of the original Innis & Gunn oak aged beer; smooth oak and malt notes, dried fruit, toffee, vanilla, some honey sweetness but with a slightly hoppier element adding some bitterness. The hops don't infringe as much on the flavour as the blonde version, but I still thought they reduced the smoothness and mellowness that I love in the original. If they bottle some more next year I might try it again, just to see if a different batch is any better, but I'll not be going out of my way to track down any more just now, especially when you factor in the £3 cost of a bottle.

I also spotted a couple of hoodie-clad, baseball-cap wearing, generally uncouth-looking types, who slouched into the beer section and, astoundingly, completely ignored the selection of real ales - even with the special offers available - and instead grabbed a 12-pack of Carling cooking lager each (also on offer, at a mere £9 for the full six litres!) and legged it in the direction of the tills.

Frankly, I was amazed: they didn't stop to read a single real ale bottle label along the way. But hey, no chance of those lads spending the weekend feeling at all aggressive, eh? Not with that much cheap lager to pacify them. Well done, you proud and noble Portman Group member, Coors UK...

Anyhow, looking at the excerpts from the complaint that have been quoted (and vigorously contradicted) by BrewDog, it's clear that it's just one specific area of the marketing of BrewDog's products that the Portman Group are objecting to. And as a marketer by trade, I feel reasonably qualified to comment on that sort of thing, so I shall.

The first thing to note is that it's not the graphic design of the packaging, or the shape of the bottles, or even the name of the product that the Portman Group is objecting to, merely the wording on the labels (and the back-labels, at that). Neither - to the best of the available knowledge to-date - have they produced any actual data or statistical evidence that supports their claim: that the wording on the back-labels of BrewDog's bottles leads to the sort of anti-social behaviour that the Portman Group is apparently (apparently...) so keen on stamping out.

Here's the sort of thing the Portman Group is objecting to, and their reasoning for doing so:

(according to BrewDog) the Portman Group claims that the phrase "aggressive beer" on the Punk IPA label "is more likely to be seen applying to the drinker rather than the drink".

How does that work, then? As a consumer and beer drinker, I for one would assume that the phrase "this is an aggressive beer" (to use the full phrasing from the label) would apply to the flavour and character of the beer itself; not that by drinking it I am likely in turn to become aggressive. In fact I rather object to the Portman Group's implication that I lack the self-control and social graces to remain in control of my temper after however many bottles of beer.

The assertion made by the Portman Group is an entirely subjective and (as BrewDog point out), linguistically and grammatically incorrect one. Okay, obviously if someone drinks enough of the stuff - if someone drinks enough alcohol, full-stop - then there's a chance they may become aggressive. But I hardly think using the descriptive term 'aggressive' (and quite specifially: to describe the beer itself) can count as an incitement to deliberate aggression, can it? No, I didn't think so.

Next: the Portman Group's assertion (again, according to BrewDog's coverage and with regard to the labelling on Hop Rocker) that:

"phrases such as 'nourishing food stuff' and 'magic is still there to be extracted from this drink' implies it could enhance mental and physical capabilities"

Again, how so, exactly? As a consumer and beer drinker, I would assume that this was descriptive hyperbole from the brewer; a little light word-play to engage the imagination of the potential purchaser and convey a sense of the beer's character and flavour. I certainly wouldn't take BrewDog to task if I chose to drink nothing but Hop Rocker for a month and by doing so failed to be properly nourished and / or develop Harry Potter's magical powers. Why? Because I'm not a complete bloody idiot and again I rather resent the Portman Group's implication that I might be.

Listen, when I see a gang of yobs hanging around on street-corners with bottles of a micro-brewed craft ale like Punk IPA or Skull Splitter in their grubby mitts, instead of cans of Special Brew or litres of cheap, industrial-grade vodka, then I'll acknowledge that perhaps they've been lead astray by the wording on the back of a BrewDog label. Until then, the Portman Group needs to gain a much-needed sense of perspective.

Let's face it, it's all just bloody stupid, isn't it? As if the wording on a bottle of real ale is going to have any effect whatsoever on the anti-social behaviour and other medical and social ills caused by alcohol abuse. The sort of alcohol abuse that's - it's largely acknowledged - is only encouraged and worsened by cheap supermarket deals, the attractiveness of alcopops (such as Beverage Brands UK's WKD) and pre-mixed vodka drinks (like Diageo's Smirnoff Ice) to teenagers, or the mass-production of super-strength lagers such as Carlsberg's Special Brew or Tennent's Extra (made by Inbev).

The thing is, though, the likes of Beverage Brands UK, Diageo, Carlsberg UK and Inbev are all members of The Portman Group. So in short: the Portman Group is an organisation that lives in a very big glass house, but whose job it is to throw stones...

But rather than go after the very genuine problems caused by their own members' products, of course they're picking on the smaller guys, the independent brewers who lack the financial muscle or clout with the retailers to fight back. Presumably, they think that they can occupy the moral high-ground and - more importantly from their point of view - can be seen to be doing something to justify their own existence, without suffering too much in the way of opposition and without upsetting or attacking their corporate members.

Now, I'm sure all the group members' products will have been very carefully vetted to ensure that their advertising toes the Code of Conduct line, but there are larger, more important social issues at stake here, and if the Portman Group really wants to make a difference, then they should look to put their own house in order first.

For a start, how about encouraging their own members to remove all those alcopops and discount-price, extra-strong lager from the shelves and turn over the spare production lines to more civilised, refined beverages instead? And how about they spent more time and energy genuinely promoting sensible drinking among teens (although that, of course, is counter-intuitive, business-wise... a teen drunk on alcopops is bad for PR but great for the bottom-line, after all) rather than pursuing frankly ludicrous complaints against small, independent breweries, whose customers are intelligent enough to know that they're not going to turn into the Hulk by drinking a bottle of IPA? That way the Portman Group might rediscover a sense of purpose and be able to do some genuine, long-term good. Not, of course, that I think for a moment that doing long-term good is actually part of the Portman Group's purpose. But they're welcome to prove me wrong. And actions always speak louder than words...

Instead though, I fully expect the glass-house-dwelling Portman Group to continue to throw their stones, And this time, they might just have picked on the wrong target. That BrewDog blog piece ends with some characteristically ebullient fighting-talk:

"At the end of the day the Portman Group is funded by companies concerned about BrewDog infringing on their market share. They are acting like a cartel - in clear breach of EU laws on competition and freedom of speech. I intend to fight them every step of the way. We will take this to the courts, we will take this to the press, and we will take this to parliament. Can one determined little brewer bring about their demise? Possibly."

A hopeless, David-and-Goliath battle? It might well be. But I for one think it's one that's worth fighting.

So, who don't you your support, in the best possible way? Visit the BrewDog webstore and order a crate of their generally rather excellent beers. I did, and I'll tell you all about them once I've had a chance to set up a sampling session.

Addendum: I dropped CAMRA's press office a line to ask them whether any action was being taken with regard to the situation and the Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Mr Jonathan Mail (who was more than happy to be quoted here), said:

We have written to the Portman Group to express our dissatisfaction. The Portman Group are not fully taking into account the target audience of a product and whether any harm will result when enforcing its code. This is inappropriate and ultimately undermines the credibility of the code.

CAMRA’s Chief Executive Mike Benner is meeting with the Portman Group to discuss our concerns. Following this meeting we will consider what further pressure needs to be brought to bear on the Portman Group.

Which is very good to hear. Well done, CAMRA. I'll bring further updates if I hear anything else from Jonathan or his colleagues in the press office.

Continuing my little mini beer odyssey through the beers of the Craigmill Brewery this is a companion to the previously reviewed Aleberry Damson Beer, Old Mortality and Clydesdale IPA. As it says in the name, it’s a light ale and you might wonder why a small brewery which already produces a fine IPA needs a light ale too. Well the answer is that this is created from a fifty mix of wheat and lager malts - the result is a very pale, straw coloured beer which resembles a lager without the flow of bubbles. The taste is clear without being too strong or intrusive, nice and smooth (which seems to be a hallmark of the brewery), bitter with a nice aftertaste, which seems to improve as the pint progresses.

According to the blurb the combination of wheat and lager malts is to offer the real ale drinker a decent choice for a light, refreshing beer during the summer months. Obviously since I picked it up during an autumn brewery visit I can’t say I’ve tested it under ‘actual combat conditions’ (then again, given the weather we had even if I had it in the summer it wouldn’t have been a real test!), but I can see a potential in this as a nice warm weather pint - we all get that problem, after all, on the occasional hot day when our taste buds wants ale but want something cool like a lager and its good to see some alternatives (and several others seem to be doing the same for the beer drinker too these days, Innis & Gunn spring to mind, saving us from the usually disappointing temptation of Guinness Cold on a summer day).

As an experiment I chilled one bottle in the fridge and had one just stored in the more usual cool spot; both went down very well and although it doesn’t say it should be served chilled I think come next summer it would make quite a refreshing drink if given just a little time in the fridge; meantime it makes a very nice, light beer for a lunchtime refreshment or afternoon pint.

I was in Cardiff to watch Motorhead.  The natural thing to do before a Motorhead gig is to drink a few pints to numb your senses a little, lest they be permanently damaged come the onslaught of noise later in the evening.  Excuse thusly made, my mate Gareth and I embarked upon a little tour of Cardiff.  "Have you heard about Zero Degrees?" he asked.  After I replied in the negative, he took me to a splendid pub.  Very splendid.

This is Zero Degrees.  There's lots to like about this place, once you get past the clinical, dare-I-say trendy look of the pub itself.  Actually, it calls itself a restaurant, but any restaurant dominated by the sights and sounds of a working micro-brewery - and the place is built around the brewery, not the other way around - is a pub in my book.  And the main thing to like (after the beer, but I'm getting there) is the staff.  When we approached the bar and asked what beers they served, the barmaid gave us a detailed run-down of their brews.  And it wasn't a by-the-numbers speech ... you had the feeling that she really knew what she was on about. Then she offered us a taste of each of the beers on offer so that we could decide which to go with first.

We drank halves ... it was to be a long day, and we wanted to do our best to try all 5 brews they had on offer.  And they were interesting, to say the least ...

The first I went with was their Black Lager.  This really was black, and it tasted much more like a good heavy stout to me (I'd love to see an habitual Fosters drinker ordering and tackling a pint of this).  Dark, heavy, the flavour was very intense ... the dense malts gave a rich coffee flavour, with a chocolate aftertaste that was very pleasant.

Next, their speciality beer, which at the time was a mango-based ale, brewed with crushed and diced mangoes no less!  A strange one this, because it looked very pale and cloudy, smelled like a fruit-based alco-pop, but it tasted divine.  Sweet, but not too sweet, the strength came through very nicely, and the fruitiness, though overt, was certainly not overpowering.  I could have done without the slice of orange the barman popped in (what was that all about?), but an interesting and experimental brew that I'd certainly track own again.

I also tried their wheat beer, and though I don't usually go for these, I found it very palatable.

Something that struck me here was the intensity of the tastes.  This definitely isn't the sort of place where you'd go for a big session, because drinking in halves was just right to get the most out of these flavours. I think if I'd had a pint of the Black Lager to begin with, I might have been put off trying something else.

And something else for which I offer high marks: they're true experimenters.  Evidence of this?  The mango beer worked surprisingly well.

So hats off to Zero Degrees.  It's a trendy, upmarket pub and restaurant, but at the same time it's a dedicated micro-brewery, trying to draw people in and give them something of an education in the type of ale they should be drinking, whilst pretending to be a pizza restaurant at the same time (actually that's a bit unfair, I'm sure their pizzas are fantastic ... but you can see where my interests lie).

If only that could be said of the gig venue ... Tetley's from a  can.  Please.