50 Bottles of Beer

Bottle: 1

Brewery: Badger

Beer: The Fropical Ferret IPA

ABV: 4.6%

Marketing: A fruity IPA bursting with tropical passion fruit and mango flavours, combined with the American Amarillo and Centennial hop notes. https://www.badgerbeers.com/our-beers/fropical-ferret/

My Thoughts: A very nice, refreshing beer. Can definitely taste the passion fruit and mango initially, but after a few ‘sips’ those flavours disappear and you are left with a regular, tasty, beer experience.

Bottle: 2

Brewery: Timothy Taylor’s

Beer: Landlord

ABV: 4.3%

Marketing: The drinkers’ favourite, a classic pale ale with a complex citrus and hoppy aroma. https://www.timothytaylor.co.uk/beer/landlord

My Thoughts: Another very nice beer with definite hop flavour. A very pleasant taste, which reminded me of my early working days when we would ‘pop to the pub’ for lunch.

Bottle: 3

Brewery: Felinfoel

Beer: Double Dragon

ABV: 4.2%

Marketing: Double Dragon is a full drinking premium Welsh Ale, which is malty and subtly hopped. It has a rich colour and smooth balanced character. This deep copper red ale has a tangy red fruit flavour with nutty, toffee overtones. https://www.felinfoel.com/beer/double-dragon/

My Thoughts: A beautiful beer. Definitely a smooth drink with a gentle hop flavour and nice malt after each sip. Didn’t find any red fruit or toffee though, but then I am not very sophisticated.

Bottle: 4

Brewery: Gower

Beer: Black Diamond

ABV: 4.2%

Marketing: A stunning full bodied Welsh porter. Brewed with five different malts to give a malty, chocolate, liquorice and coffee flavoured grown up beer.. https://gowerbrewery.com/pages/gower-black-diamond

My Thoughts: I’m definitely grown up and this beer contains all the flavours I love. A really, really nice Porter beer.

Bottle: 5

Brewery: Conwy Brewery

Beer: Clogwyn Gold

ABV: 4.0%

Marketing: Unfiltered / Unpasturised / Naturally Conditioned Ale. https://www.conwybrewery.co.uk/

My Thoughts: Conwy Brewery are committed to producing natural, flavourful beers that minimise impact on the environment and this beer definitely meets all those criteria. Lovely, tasty beer.

Bottle: 6

Brewery: Glamorgan Brewing Co.

Beer: Welsh Cake Stout

ABV: 4.3%

Marketing: Welsh Cake Stout is a pastry stout inspired by our favourite sweet treat. Adding oats + raisins to a rich stout base means every sip tastes of fresh Welsh Cakes straight from the griddle. https://www.glamorganbrewing.co.uk/our-beers/welsh-cake-stout-keg

My Thoughts: I’m a big fan of Welsh cake (and beer of course) and this combination is genuinely tasty. Got a hit of the welsh cake flavour in every mouthful along with the wonderful taste of good stout. Definitely a beer for the colder months.

Bottle: 7

Brewery: Tomos Watkin

Beer: Black Diamond

ABV: 4.2%

Marketing: A light offering brewed using no coloured malts, this ultra-refreshing beer comes bursting with the citrusy aromas of golding, fuggle and cascade hops. https://tomoswatkin.com/collections/tomos-watkin-cwrw-haf-beer

My Thoughts: An easy drinking beer and can actually ‘taste’ the citrusy aromas. Went down very well.

Bottle: 8

Brewery: Bath Ales

Beer: Gem

ABV: 4.1% \ 4.8%

Marketing: We wanted to make an ale that feels as familiar as walking into your favourite country pub. So we used traditional British malts and balanced the soft fruits and bittersweet caramel with a soft, smooth bitterness. https://bathales.com/beers/gem/

My Thoughts: I do love an amber ale and this one absolutely hits the mark. Tasty.

Bottle: 9

Brewery: Batemans

Beer: Victory Ale

ABV: 6.0%

Marketing: Victory Ale is brewed with pale and crystal malts and hopped with English Goldings and American Liberty varieties. A distinctive peppery hop and bitter orange aroma is followed by big hops and fruit flavours with a lingering hop bitterness. https://www.bateman.co.uk/our-beers/bottled-beers/

My Thoughts: I tasted the peppery-ness and really enjoyed it. Didn’t get the bitter orange, but still a thoroughly enjoyable drink.

Bottle: 10

Brewery: Sharp’s Brewery

Beer: Doom Bar

ABV: 4.0%

Marketing: Doom Bar is a perfectly balanced beer combining subtle yet complex flavours. This creates an amber ale which is both satisfying and deliciously moreish. https://www.sharpsbrewery.co.uk/blogs/beer/doom-bar

My Thoughts: This is one of my more regular drinking ales. A great drink for the end of a days work.

Bottle: 11

Brewery: Marstons Brewery

Beer: Old Empire IPA

ABV: 5.7%

Marketing: A memorable and deceptively easy-drinking IPA. This is an authentic recreation of the beer style created for, and enjoyed throughout the Empire. Goldings, Fuggles and American Cascade hops combine to give a crisp, citrus hop aromas, with a balanced, bittersweet finish. https://www.marstonsbrewery.co.uk/beers/old-empire/

My Thoughts: Was very definitely easy to drink with a good, malty bitter flavour.

Bottle: 12

Brewery: Hop Back Brewery

Beer: Summer Lightning

ABV: 5.0%

Marketing: A trendsetter in the brewing industry; the original Summer ale brewed all year round. An extremely pleasant bitter, straw coloured beer with a terrific fresh, hoppy aroma. This, coupled with an intense bitterness, leads to an excellent long, dry finish.. https://www.hopback.co.uk/product/summer-lightening/

My Thoughts: Generally a nice beer, but I’m not sure it is actually ‘trendsetting’. Taste is good, but no intense bitterness and only a slightly dry finish.

Bottle: 13

Brewery: Wye Valley Brewery

Beer: Butty Bach

ABV: 4.5%

Marketing: Butty Bach is a Welsh term meaning ‘little friend’ – and this charmingly smooth premium ale has certainly made more than a few friendships in its time. We brew it using Maris Otter and Crystal malts together with locally grown Fuggles, Goldings and Bramling Cross hops. https://www.wyevalleybrewery.co.uk/our-beers/butty-bach/

My Thoughts: A friend indeed. This is a really fine ale. Great flavour with the malty notes really shining through.

Bottle: 14

Brewery: Conwy Brewery

Beer: Welsh Pride

ABV: 4.3%

Marketing: Unfiltered / Unpasturised / Naturally Conditioned Ale. https://www.conwybrewery.co.uk/

My Thoughts: Conwy Brewery are committed to producing natural, flavourful beers that minimise impact on the environment and this beer definitely meets all those criteria. Lovely, tasty beer.

Bottle: 15

Brewery: Brains

Beer: Dark

ABV: 3.5%

Marketing: A true classic Brains Dark has been brewed continuously since the 1920s and is still winning awards today. Chocolate malts help create this distinctive treacle coloured yet easy-drinking ale with its distinctive creamy head. https://www.sabrain.com/our-beers/cask-ales/dark

My Thoughts: This is one of my favourite beers. Beautiful flavour, easy to drink, amazing colour. Just an all around fabulous beer.

Bottle: 16

Brewery: Shepherd Neame

Beer: Spitfire Golden Ale

ABV: 4.3%

Marketing: Spitfire Gold is an easy-drinking versatile ale, lightly golden in hue, well-balanced and full of flavour. Sweeter and more mellow than its amber counterpart, it has proved an enduringly popular addition to the Spitfire family. https://www.shepherdneame.co.uk/spitfire-collection

My Thoughts: Definitely a great, easy to drink beer.

Bottle: 17

Brewery: Eagle Brewery

Beer: Banana Bread Beer

ABV: 5.2%

Marketing: An inspired brew made with our own natural mineral water and Fairtrade bananas. Tempting Banoffee aromas and flavours are balanced by the silky richness of a masterful malt blend and the peppery spice of the freshest, ripest hops. https://eaglebrewery.co.uk/beers/banana-bread/

My Thoughts: I do like this beer, but you only really get the banana taste for the first couple of mouthfuls and then, well, it’s just a regular beer.

Bottle: 18

Brewery: Robinsons / Iron Maiden Beer

Beer: Trooper IPA

ABV: 4.3%

Marketing: Marries together familiar American hoppy flavours with a fundamentally British backbone. https://www.ironmaidenbeer.com/our-beers/

My Thoughts: The label is not the only great thing about this beer!

Bottle: 19

Brewery: Glamorgan Brewing CO.

Beer: CWRW Gorslas

ABV: 4.0%

Marketing: Named after the village in Carmarthenshire where we first brewed, this well balanced cwrw (beer) is a love letter to the classic bitters we grew up on. https://www.glamorganbrewing.co.uk/our-beers/cwrw-gorslas-cask

My Thoughts: A definite classic bitter. Great taste.

Bottle: 20

Brewery: Shepherds Neame

Beer: Bishops FInger

ABV: 5.4%

Marketing: A rich, ruby-coloured Kent classic Bishops Finger Kentish Strong Ale is a connoisseur’s beer with excellent credentials and pedigree. https://www.shepherdneame.co.uk/beer/bishops-finger

My Thoughts: Another of my regular beers. It has a deeper flavour and is very satisfying.

Bottle: 21

Brewery: Greene King

Beer: Abbot

ABV: 5.0%

Marketing: Warming, malty and fruity. Pale and Amber malts contribute to a mouth-filling and satisfying Horlicks and biscuity maltiness. Challenger and First Gold give a base note of herbal hop and Fuggle as a late hop contributes the main fragrant fruity and floral and spicy notes. Fermented slowly to give just enough fruity esters Abbot Ale provides a complex, satisfying and warming experience. https://www.greeneking.co.uk/our-beers/abbot-ale/

My Thoughts: This is a really great beer, but the marketing blurb is much to waffly for me! I didn’t get the Horlicks or biscuity maltiness, but I did thoroughly enjoy the full flavour.

Bottle: 22

Brewery: Exmoor Ales

Beer: Gold

ABV: 5.0%

Marketing: The aroma is a blend of fresh grassy and floral hop and a subtly soft, caramel-tinged maltiness. The palate is a balance of gentle grainy maltiness and sprightly floral, citrusy fresh hop fruitiness. The finish is bittersweet with hints of citrus fruit weaving in and out. https://www.exmoorales.co.uk/exmoor-gold/

My Thoughts: A very refreshing beer with definite hop and malty flavour and I definitely got the bittersweet finish.

Bottle: 23

Brewery: Exmoor Ales

Beer: Stag

ABV: 5.2%

Marketing: This is a big hitter of a beer, an Ian Botham standing defiantly at the crease. The nose is rich with resiny hop aromas to the fore followed by a biscuity maltiness in the background. On the palate, a voluminous malty character with hints of chocolate and toffee is matched note for note with a well defined and warming fruitiness, before a long dry finish with a hint of sweetness. https://www.exmoorales.co.uk/exmoor-stag/

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this. A full one flavour, plenty of malt and even got the toffee (but not really the chocolate). The sweet finish is very pleasant.

Bottle: 24

Brewery: Theakston

Beer: Old Peculiar

ABV: 5.6%

Marketing: Brewed with only the finest malted barley, Challenger, Target and the majestic Fuggle hops. Fermented with the famous Theakston twin strain yeast to create its extra strength and complex character. The legendary Theakston Old Peculier is a deep, dark, ruby coloured ale with a rich, fruity flavour with hints of cherry and banana. https://www.theakstons.co.uk/pages/theakstons-old-peculier

My Thoughts: A classic among beers and thoroughly enjoyable.

Bottle: 25

Brewery: Badger

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Bottle: 26

Brewery: Shepherd Neame

Beer: Spitfire

ABV: 4.2%

Marketing: Spitfire Amber is the head of the Spitfire family and a true taste of Kent. It was first brewed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, played out in the skies above Kentish soil. It is brewed using 100% Kentish hops, the finest malt and water drawn from a well deep beneath Shepherd Neame’s Faversham brewery.. https://www.shepherdneame.co.uk/spitfire-collection

My Thoughts: Another of my regular drinks. Spitfire has a good flavour and easy to drink.

Bottle: 27

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