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.

Odell Brewing Company

The Odell Brewing Company, Colorado, USA.

Probably their most well known beers are these two, the '5 Barrel Pale Ale', and the '90 shilling' Scottish style ale. Both were bought for £2.99 each.
First up was the 90 Schilling, with a 5.3% abv.

A sweet and malty aroma, burnished brown colour, tastes nutty, a lot of caramel, light brown sugar, the light bitterness like some burnt toffee. I quite enjoyed this, it was a pleasant beer all round, simple as that.

I moved onto their 5 barrel pale ale, which is 5.2% abv.

Poured a hazy orange in colour, very attractive indeed. A good marmalade aroma, in the mouth it has a sticky resin quality, a good citrus hop bitterness.

I did wonder if drinking it after the 90 Schilling ale sweetness that it made the bitterness more pronounced than perhaps one might notice normally. Some biscuity malt came through nicely and a fair dose of juicy fruit too.

Overall two very good, very drinkable beers.

Apologies for the hi-ball glass, the kitchen was packed away whilst being gutted and replaced and it was the only glass to hand.

Thornbridge Versa

Wonderful beer, buy it and try it.
 I keep changing my mind on what might be my favourite beer style but it's beers like this one that keep me swinging back to wheat beers.

This German Hefeweizen styled beer from Thornbridge is 5% and 500mls of nectar. With its wonderful bubblegum aroma, with citrus and cloves I wish I'd had bought more than one bottle because I knew this would not last in the glass long at all.

And it didn't, the hazy orange liquor, with its banana's, apricot wheat breakfast cereal, and perfect carbonation, it all went down so well and far to quickly.


I kinda spoilt the overall effect with the wrong glass, my weizen one was broken a while back and I've yet to replace it.

Purple Moose Brewery Cwrw Glaslyn

Penpont Brewery 'An Howl'

The Penpont brewery in Cornwall produce this beer with, and a percentage each time goes to the Cornwall Rural Community Council (CRCC).

A golden ale, and a strong one at 5.6%,  it is called 'An Howl' which is Cornish for 'the sun'. It is 500mls, and I think it was bottle conditioned, although I didn't note it at the time.

It has a very fruity aroma, juicy oranges or a strong marmalade.
It's got a nice freshness about it, a good bitterness accompanies a dryness around the front of your mouth.
Satisfying is a word that springs to mind, the fruit and malts are balanced well, the body medium, its strong and refreshing.
One I'll definitely look out for on holiday on Cornwall this year.