Review: Guardsman

Name: Guardsman
Brewery: Windsor & Eton.
ABV: 4.2%
Style: Best Bitter
Season: Late Summer

Availability: Unknown outside the Windsor area.

I have lived in and around Windsor for a while now and as a place, there's very little not to like. I am a man who wants to support all things local but Guardsman by Windsor & Eton Brewey is something I cannot champion. From the pour, it is ruby and copper with the kind of body I usually find irrestable in a pint glass. However, the nose belies a bitterness that I simply cannot palate: the hops are far too dominant and destroy any sweetness or character the malt tries to bring. Boasting a "distinctive hop aroma" and a "tangy taste", I certainly must agree but it is not a pleasant one. I just couldn't taste past the slaughtering iron-tang even though the colour and aroma promised so much. It's not often that this happens but, after sipping as much as I could, the sink enjoyed the rest. A taste I can best do without.

Review: Theakstone's Old Peculier

Name: Theakstone's Old Peculier
Brewery: Theakstone, North Yorkshire.
ABV: 5.6%
Style: Dark ale

Availability: Widely available in most supermarkets.

Try if you like: Coffee, dark chocolate, rich, deep & sumptuous treacle flavours, stouts, porters.

A quintisentially British brew and well worthy of its fame: a true legend and a beer that continues to be complex and surprising after each drink. Old Peculier pours out a deep, rich ebony brown and foams up with a head like whipped deep-vanilla ice. This is a dark brew but maintains itself a lighter body than a stout or a porter thanks to the slight carbonation that lifts the whole profile and the fresh bitterness from the equally legendary fuggles hops. The epitome of bittersweet, at the front it is fresh and roasted with the sweetness coming somewhere in the middle, not far off burnt caramel or dark maple or treacle. Towards the end, there lingers the more coffee-tinged notes and then the dip of bitterness to stop this brew from being sickly-sweet. It packs a real punch at 5.6% and you can taste that alcohol but it is managed extremely well through a balanced and smooth finish but, again, thanks to the slight fizz and fuggles, doesn't feel too syrupy. This really is a luxurious and surprisingly light brew for its colour and taste but somehow, I can never drink one quickly: be it the punch or to savour every drop, a pint lasts a bit longer than a quaffable amber ale. I adore this brew around late autumn and winter when fires crackly, fireworks pop and the days are so miserable that a pint in the cosy indoors is irrestable. When Theakstone crafted this, they crafted something that deserves to be preserved like Stonehenge or The Tower of London. If you've never had one, try one on Christmas Day, before the dinner; downwind of the pine needles: there's a resonance of rum-kissed raisin in this drink that will have you feeling merry in no time (and of course, the 5.6% will have nothing to do with it!).

Review: Hobgoblin

Name: Hobgoblin
Brewery: Wychwood, Oxfordshire
ABV: Cask: 4.5% Bottle 5.2%
Style: Ruby Ale
Season: Autumn/Winter

Availability: Widely available in most supermarkets

Traditionally crafted and legendary: this is how the beer describes itself. Regardless of the self-promotion, there's no denying the justified popularity of this one. Another heavily reliable pint, the flavour profile of Hobgoblin means you always go back for more. From the bottle, it packs a punch at 5.2% which is more than enough to warm your cockles on a winter's eve. From the pour, you are immediately struck with the dark, chestnut colour of the brew which yields a frothy, butterscotch coloured head. To taste, it is a delightful mix of bittersweet chocolate hoppiness: lingering coffee tinged notes with a malty dominance that could remind you of a stout. The fantastic thing about Hobgoblin is that it has a good level of carbonation to lift this to being mildly refreshing, which seems odd considering the chocolate malts kicking around. Again, this is another great reliable beer that never disappoints and for me, carries the essence of that descent into cold, slow Autumn. When served cold, the coffee flavour sits more in the background, as does the sweetness but as things warm up, the full body of mocha-esque morishness comes to dominate. A real corker of a pint and a beer that has been a firm favourite and nowhere near as heavy as you think it would be. A perfect draw for when the days get short and living rooms get cosy.

Review: Sharps Doombar

Name: Doombar
Brewery: Sharps, Cornwall
ABV: Cask: 4.0% Bottle 4.3%
Style: Amber Ale (according to the brewery)
Season: All-Year
Availability: Stocked in most supermarkets.

Try if you like: Gem, Broadside, toffee and caramel biscuity malt flavours - hopped enough to not be sickly mind!

An incredible achievement by the brewery that hails from Rock in Cornwall. It pours out at a copper brown rather than an amber and it tastes how it looks: malty, morish with a slight biscuity note coming from the roasted malts. However, this is by no means a heavy beer and what saves it from being too 'chewy' is the refreshing swell of understated bitterness brought out by the hops. This is a sweet pint but one that is nowhere near as demerera on the palate as beers near a similar shade (such as the now legendary Speckled Hen or Abbot Ale). This is a real session beer that doesn't give too much gas and doesn't pack too much of a punch. It's real charm is that it suits any time of year: cold and from the fridge, it can refresh on a summers day whilst still giving some malty scrumptiousness that makes it wonderful paired with Autumnal dishes and rich comfort foods. In many ways, this is the most competent all-rounder and a real go-to beer if in doubt. Dependable and delectable. One of my all time favourites: a forever beer.

An Ale for All Seasons

Ale is a wonderful thing. It is the perfect marriage of humankind's ingenuity and the fruits of Mother Nature. Unlike so many things we humans perpetrate, brewing takes what nature offers and produces something that can marry the essence of the natural world and the selfish desires of human beings into something wondrous: like landscape gardening but infinitely more intoxicating! What I love about ale is that it is seasonal. Of course, you can drink whatever you like whenever you like, but ale definitely comes in seasons. In the colder phases such as Spring, Autmumn and Winter, (if you're living in the UK, 3/4 of the year are cold...actually more like 7/8ths) the freshness of the air and the need for richness and comfort cause one to gravitate towards the darker, more luxurious shades of ale such as the Porter, the Stout or the heavily malted bitter. Like the days, pints get darker, smokier and heavier. The nose of such brews can be imbued with the rise of a wood fire, the reassuring embrace of brewed coffee and the heady velvet of a brandy or rum. Crisp autumnal mornings and crackling fireplaces have been miniaturised and distilled into glasses of stout and porter, I promise you. Summer sunshine brings the freshness and florality of hoppy, herbal citrus-noted golden and amber ales: grassy and bittersweet with a fresh crispness bordering on lager-esque and equally refreshing but with the ability to be richer and roll with a fuller body: beers such as Badger's Golden Glory or an IPA like Sierra Nevada can taste tossed in freshly cut grass, flower petals, lemon zest and, in the case of some European lagers, hemp. Of course, I adore lager as well and at the height of summer, it comes to its zenith.

If you ever visit somewhere, taste its food but also taste its beer: around the year I truly believe a landscape can be sculpted and projected through the beer it yields: stand on a cliff in Cornwall slurping a Doombar and you'll know what I mean. Throughout this blog, I will mention when I drink beers and by all means, ignore my seasonality: drink is for when you want it and should be taken exactly how you want it, I merely mention it because I am somewhat romantic and like to revel in the nostalgia sensuality can bring. You'd never guess I was born in the South of England would you? What a nauseating fop I sound.