Review: Golden Champion

Name: Golden Champion
Brewery: Hall & Woodhouse, Dorset.
ABV: 5%
Style: Golden Ale
Season: Spring/Summer but really, any time you fancy something more than a cold lager can deliver.

Availability: Most major supermarkets.

Try if you like: Crisp, full-bodied lagers such as Pilsner Urquell, Fursty Ferret.

This is the beer that started it all. Back in 2005, I first saw a bottle of this adorned in sun blushed labelling with a dark, brown glass bottle and gold lettering. It was the first 'ale' I had ever held in my hands. It tasted wonderful. Grown up. Better than lager. Of the earth, the field, the country. I adored it. I still do. Today, it is slightly at odds with my favourite flavours of subtle caramel, morish malt and dark roasts but then that is probably why I love it: it isn't these things but still manages to finish sublimely whilst reminding me of a more naive time. Cut grass, pollen and summer freshness burst forth from the soft bubbling, shining copper brew. A wonderful golden straw not far off golden syrup in tone. Crisp, refreshing but with that depth of hop and malt that remind you this isn't a gassy, dilute lager or sharp pilsner: there is a slight coriander tone that keeps things from the garden and the echo of maltiness that give you something sweet and bodied to consider. Summer in a cup, in a quaff, in a mouthful. Perfect with a barbecue, on a picnic or whenever you want. Maybe it is nostalgia that really wins this for me? Or maybe it is that, whenever I go to a friends house, they tell me: "You left a bottle of ale here" and it is always a Golden Champion and I most certainly didn't leave it (but they buy me one every time I'm going to pop by and keep up the pretence!). I love this beer. I know it is winter and you are roasting chestnuts on the open fire but whilst you sit there in your thick knitwear, the rain drizzling down the windows and the sky churning an endless, miasmic grey just pop a bottle of this open and journey back to August. 

For more info go to: http://www.hall-woodhouse.co.uk/beer/golden-champion

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Review: Fursty Ferret

Name: Fursty Ferret
Brewery: Hall & Woodhouse, Dorset.
ABV: 4.4%
Style: Amber Ale
Season: Summer but really, let's face it, any time of year: that's the beauty of it!

Availability: Most major supermarkets.

From the Badger brewery (or Hall and Woodhouse - a family-run business for generations) comes Fursty Ferret, a real lesson in balance. This is, for me, one of the great session beers and suitable for absolutely any time and any occasion: not too gassy, not too heavy, not too malty and not too hoppy: pure and absolute balance in a glass. The colour is a coppery gold which whispers of the morish and malty under flow to this pint. Coupling this almost biscuity undercurrent is an interweaving of floral hops with the tiniest hint of something citrus but don't get me wrong, this isn't overly bitter at all: just when it gets too hoppy, the malt flurries in and likewise, just as the richness of malt might dominate, there comes an updraft of fizz and freshness that takes you from autumn to spring in a single sip. We all have dependable regulars in all facets of our lives and Ferret is certainly one of those: an all-rounder that you can rely on to deliver when you may be overwhelmed with choice or simply just not sure what to go for. I wish more pubs served it owing to the fact that if you can't decide on a lager or an ale then you would have the Ferret to satisfy all your demands. Almost proving its 'Jack-of-all-trades' persona, this little beauty also comes in cans! 

Check out the brewery website for further info: http://www.hall-woodhouse.co.uk/beer/fursty-ferret