Shepherd Neame Double Stout

Possibly still on sale in Lidl, £1.49 500mls,  this is from Shepherd Neame and its their 4% abv Double Stout with the Master Brewer label.

Almost black, but very transparent, light coffee cream head. Its ticks most boxes with its aroma, coffee, chocolate, roast malts. First taste though and my mind immediately focuses on its body, its quite light and thin, the carbonation is fine but just the thinness strikes you.
Anyway what about the rest? Well its got dryness, coffee and chocolate, a lingering metallic note. Quite bitter coffee noted.
All in all its okay, not great just okay and drinkable.

You know when you make a sauce, pasta sauce or whatever, you season and taste it and think 'not bad, just need to reduce down and intensify the flavours' well that's just what i thought when drinking this beer.

Shepherd Neame Tins'Ale

This is Shepherd Neame's festive offering, called Tins'Ale  (which is a terrible name!). My first proper 'Christmas Beer' too.

500mls, 4.0% abv, not bottle conditioned, and bought from Lidl a couple of weeks ago, so it might still be available.


Light orange brown in colour, the head is surprisingly big to start with, reducing to a good white ring.
Light peppery aroma with malt and oranges.
The taste is quite spikey, spices and bitterness rule, although i'm not picking up anything distinct. Its got a strong malt backbone, pruney fruit too. Quite gassy.

Its an okay bitter, nothing more than average though.

New Aldi & Lidl beer offers

To my mind the only supermarket shelves that seems to providing new bottles to try are Aldi and Lidl currently down my way, Tesco & Asda rarely changes its line up, and other supermarkets are not on the doorstep. A little planning needed before going to Morrisons, which inconveniently shuts at 8pm (!), and its not often i get there after work before that time.

To be honest even the Lidl is a little out the way and often i wonder if the deals they have on are worth the deviation. Certainly the beer nut has saved me wasting my time before driving out to them.

Latest offers:
Aldi have another Batemans bottle in, this one called 'Miss America' at £1.49, part of the US theme aldi have going on.
"An amber coloured, hoppy beer with a grapefruit flavour. Pale, crystal and wheat malt are combined with Liberty hops from the USA to give this beer its crisp citrus finish."

 They are more likely to get my money though spent on the second bottle offer - Samuel Adams Boston Lager and only £1.19. Shows the effect of inflation as this bottle was only 99p this time last year, but still a bargain for a great tasting beer.

Over at Lidl the latest bottle  from Shepherd Neame is their 'Summer Sizzler' 4% and only 99p.  
I wonder if the current  Pencil and Spoon series on 'When beer goes bad' will include lightstruck beer before i try this Shep bottle?

Sainsbury's London Porter

Sainsbury's Taste the Difference London Porter

From the Sainsburys Taste the Difference range, brewed for them by Shepherd Neame. When i saw the bottle on the shelf i was hoping, knowing that this range is brewed by established breweries, that it was by Fullers as i have yet to try their reportedly amazing porter. When i saw it was Shepherd Neame i was apprehensive, i've not always liked their output.
The London Porter is 5% and is a 'rich, dark beer packed with intense flavours of chocolate and spicy liquorice'


It has a big creamy off white head and a fair amount of carbonation is evident in its black body. Its aroma is of coffee and strong burnt malt, very nice. Taste wise i never found the liquorice but enjoyed the rest, the sweet maltyness, coffee and chocolate, medium body and the bitterness which grew as it warmed up. Really enjoyed this, and had it alongside a ginger cake i made earlier, lovely!!.