Beer Review: Boon Doggle

Oooh, what's that? Why, it is the sun and the air is relatively still! Bees are in the garden and the daffodils are in bloom. I have a small child bouncing on the trampoline with the excitement and enthusiasm that it seems only small children can muster and maintain. I am, of course, avoiding work and all work-related stress by sitting and having an ale, is there really any other way to do this? If my colleagues are reading this then please do not worry, I am sure I'll be back to being stressed and working too damn' hard soon enough. In the meantime, I am going to sit awhile and enjoy the tender mercies of Boon Doggle by Ringwood Brewery. I am surprised to find that this is actually the first time I've had this, I was a fan of their Old Thumper back in the day.

Enough, I'm no poet and I think I am trying too hard, to the ale!

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Beer Review: Hopping Hog IPA

It is time to embrace the lengthening days and the greater sunlight, time to try something that is green and spring-like in container. It is time to break out the carefully hoarded gains from down south and start feasting on what lies within. Apart from the chocolate lager, of course, I appear to have already done away with most of that. No, I speak instead of the Hopping Hog IPA that is, as it claims, an IPA and is, as it further claims, full of hops. Some of them are local hops that have been grown in and around the site of the brewery and lovely countryside it is around there too!

Is this enough to whet your appetite? I do hope so. Now, follow me to find out more!

Downt'pub: I want it all

My local, in Ilkeston, is a nice place. Maybe you've heard me talk about it before? It's the Burnt Pig Ale 'Ouse, and has really gone from strength to strength since I went to the opening night. From having a buffet on for free over Christmas to opening a new room at the back to accommodate the punters and having a good selection of constantly shifting interesting ales this place is very much a place that I have enjoyed coming back to again and again. And I'm not even being paid for writing all this puff, it just is that nice a place. I can't claim to know any of the staff well enough to be recognised, I don't go often enough, but there is definitely a community feel to the place and so it was when I found myself with time of an evening that Willow suggested I go there for a swift half.

I don't need telling twice, despite what my wordiness might suggest!

So, care to walk with me to the local ale 'ouse and sample some of their wares? You would? Excellent, then let's adjourn there now, shall we?

Beer Review: Benjamin Disraeli Hughenden Ale

Spring has sprung, wind has blown, and there is rain and wetness all across the land. Easter has been and gone, the hour is forward and there is light where there was none previously. Time to stop dwelling in the dark and enter truly the light and taste some ale that is deliberately golden rather than summery. I refer, in this instance, to a brew bought me by my father: Benjamin Disraeli Hughenden Ale which is quite a mouthful, by and bye. This offering is brought to us by Chiltern Brewery and was acquired at the ancestral home of the Prime Minister himself.

And so I must now turn to the business of drinking this ale and then reviewing it for the good of the viewing public. It's a hard job but someone has to do it! Would you like to follow me further into the realms of the beer review?

Beer Review: Hop Bomb

This was my Easter ale, picked up and presented on the day with much fanfare. It was one that I had chosen myself and even given to other people as a gift. It is, of course, Hop Bomb by T. A. Sadler's who have gifted the world the rather wonderful Mud City Stout. I think I have even had a version of this before in 255ml. Now it's widescreen, with special features, at 500ml and 2.5 of your English Units.

However, this is not the review that you may be expecting from that introduction and it certainly isn't the review that I was intending to write. Would you like to know more?

Beer Review: 1914 Ale

With the name of this ale I would have been hard-pressed to ignore it on the shelf. My predilections are very much toward making connections and the centenary of the First World War looms large in my thoughts at the moment. This ale does seem to do a good job of making the whole thing work without too much schmaltz and supports a charity that seems, upon Googling, to do good work with survivors of conflicts that would otherwise be forgotten. So, without further ado, let me introduce the master of tonight's ceremonies in 1914 Ale, brewed by Box Steam Brewery, which is something I've had before methinks.

Be wary of the busy and untidy kitchen, wipe your feet for all that will change matters, and follow me to a better place to sit in the living room and discuss this latest addition to my reviewing journey. Would you like to know more?

Beer Review: Salt's Burton Ale

It's an evening of ale. Just been out to have a swift half in the local and now I'm settling down trying to plan a lesson for Monday with an ale and my dressing gown on because it is cold. Too much information? Too much information. For now apparent reason, I am doing this with an amber ale of bitter variety Salt's Burton Ale from Tower Brewery. This is one that I do keep spotting locally and have been itching to try an ale from, and I finally got round to it because it was a pound on Saturday. I love me a bargain. Hey, stop that, I do get some good ales that aren't randomly on offer but I haven't been writing much lately.

Onward! Would you like to know more?