Boltmaker - Timothy Taylor

Name: Boltmaker.
Brewery: Timothy Taylor.
ABV: 4.2% (bottle).
Style: Bitter.
Season: Autumn/Winter

Availability: Available in most good supermarkets.

What I paid: £1.79 (Waitrose).

Try if you like: Traditional bitters, Spitfire by Shepherd Neame, malt and rather bitter hops.

Combing through the Camra champion beer lists turned me toward this Yorkshire brew from the very well established Timothy Taylor brewery, creators of the legendary Landlord.

Boltmaker has won the Supreme Champion Beer award from Camra (2014) and comes very high up in many of the 'Best British Beet' lists to be found online. It has a depth of flavour that makes it very robust and there is nothing gentle about this drop: malty to a point at the start but a strong bitter body that unfortunately for me finishes with a very rough finale - an almost acrid flavour that just doesn't sit well with me but I do prefer things on the sweeter edge as familiar readers may be aware of. If you enjoy a good, no nonsense traditional bitter, I don't think you'll find a better example than this. Certainly not a session beer due to its rather gassy nature and heavy body.

In colour and taste, it reminded me of Spitfire by Kent's Shepherd Neame brewery: coppery, malty undertone with a hopped bitter final flourish. Not for me and I don't think I'll ever drink one again but each to their own as they say. 

Review: Bath Ale's Darkside

Name: Dark Side
Brewery: Bath Ales, Warmley, Bristol.
ABV: 4.0%
Style: Strout
Season: Autumn/Winter but in fairness, like so many things, whenever you can get it!

Availability: Mostly around the Bristiol/Bath area. On sale at The Rec, where I indulged in mine on my pilgrimage to see Bath play.

Dark Side is an extremely fitting name for this ebony brew: a very deep, ruby-chestnut stout that looks every bit as a stout should but with none of the weight and cloy of the more famous expressions of the breed. Dark Side has redefined what a stout can be and for a beer that is only 4.0%, it is imbued with a rich pedigree of flavour. Each sip acts as a coffee bean wrapped in smoked chocolate and finishes with a refreshing, bitter edge; slightly carbonated to avoid the brew turning into syrup: Dark Side has a refreshingly lifted mouthfeel and is both slightly fizzy yet smooth on delivery. These slow burning tastes and textures are the result of a marriage between dark roasted malts and the majestic, legendary Fuggles hop (I'm noticing a pattern in the brews that win big!). Dark Side manages to be both robust and delicate: an absolute triumph from the incredible West Country outfit at Bath Ales and a stout that will have you turning away from the conventional and embracing, dare I say it, the Dark Side of brewing!