McMullen 'Stronghart' Bitter

Here we go, off the back of a chilly summer it must be time to have a go at the winter warmers as the nights draw in. Something warming and fruity to ward off the cold... Oh... Bugger... So that's what happened to the summer - it was down the back of the sofa all that time! Well, going for the beer anyway.

A deep, dark beer - ruby red colour when you hold it up to the light.

Powerful stuff, liquorice aromas with a fruit tang. Lots of burnt, smoky flavours - treacle but not overly sweet. Pleasant dryness on the finish. A well made beer - I can see why the McMullen got beaten in the GBBH by the Bad King John (see below) but that's an honourable defeat.

7% abv, £2.12 (50cl) from Sainsbury's - presumably while stocks last!


I'm still in the process of reviewing the beers, but the winners were announced today. First place went to Ridgeway's Bad King John and second to Williams' Caesar Augustus. Two very different beers, both of which I reviewed earlier this month, but both equally worthy winners - well done!

As far as I understand it these beers will be rolled out to 150 Sainsbury's shops for a 6 month run.

I also heard on the grapevine (twittervine?) that the 'British' beer hunt didn't run in Wales. Obviously the final had no Welsh or Ulster beers but I assumed this was because they had been knocked out in the qualifiers or whatever, but if they were just not included - and thus not included in the sales end for people to try - then that's not a good move by Sainsbury's.

Generally though, good beer, good fun.

Wold Top 'Golden Summer'

A confession to something of a local bias - I grew up near Driffield (my Mum worked there) and I have tried Wold Top's beers before courtesy of Roberts & Speight, who used to be my local wine merchants and off licence when I was far too young to be appreciating these sorts of things.

Having said that, I was prepared to be quite underwhelmed by Golden Summer. There are an awful lot of low to mid strength pale beers knocking about, and so many of them are very samey. When I was in a pub this weekend I tried three different ones which tasted so similar it seemed to be something of a misuse of two beer engines and space in the cellar.

Rant aside, this was actually very good - far from being another also-ran. It might have been because it was brewed up to 4.4% but they've done a good job of getting some character into the beer. There is a sneaky hop bite to it but it's not an American style hop-monster, you have to go looking for it lurking amongst the barley, which makes it all the more interesting!

Only criticism is that it seems a bit of an injustice to call it a summer beer - I reckon I'd be happy to drink this at any time of year. Hoping to get a chance to try it on tap - preferably in place of a bland, pale, 3.5% 'session' Deuchars IPA/Oakham JHB/Castle Rock Harvest Pale copy.

4.4% abv. £1.89 (50cl) from Sainsbury's

Caledonian 'Flying Dutchman' Wheat Beer

Nicely designed, very dutch orange label, I'm sure the royal family would be proud. Unless they taste the beer that has shamelessly used their colours - because it's just a bit... Meh.

It's suggested that the beer is served chilled, but it didn't actually taste of very much so I let it warm up a bit. This didn't particularly help. It's supposedly flavoured with orange, coriander and liquorice but, certainly at fridge temperature, it's so subtle as to be wasted.

Light body, refreshing but really kind of disappointing. Talking about the label is rarely a good sign at the start of a review, it's like when you're at school and you say 'What do you think of that essay?' and the teacher says 'Well, the handwriting is good.' So I guess, 'can do better' is appropriate - and Caledonian can!

4.5% abv, £1.89 (50cl) from Sainsbury's

Joseph Holt 'Two Hoots' Golden Ale

Well it was all going so well! The standard of the beers in Sainsbury's beer hunt has been excellent so far so I suppose it's almost inevitable that some are not going to be so great. Maybe I am being a little harsh but this wasn't up to the dizzy heights scaled by previous beers I'd tried. This one's from Joseph Holt up in Manchester.

A golden-brown beer that comes in a clear bottle - bad idea form the start, beer doesn't react well to light. Head collapsed quite quickly.

Pleasant malty aroma (coming from crystal malt as I understand it) and a decent hoppy bite on the sweetish finish, but overall it was nothing spectacular.

4.2% abv. £1.89 (50cl) from Sainsbury's

Harviestoun 'Wild Hop' IPA

Another corker from the beer hunt range, this time from Harviestoun.

Gold colour with quite a short head retention.

I wasn't sure of the ideal serving temperature, so I tried it cold then again once it had warmed up to around cellar temperature.

When cold it's a big hop head-shot, almost making your eyes water! All citrus, particularly grapefruit, and the coldness seems to take away any floral hoppiness and replace it all with bite. Seemed a less feminine IPA compared to something like Brewdog's 'Punk' IPA.

When it warmed up it mellowed a bit (although it's all relative) and some of the floral hoppiness came through. Still a hop belter though.

5.2% abv. £1.99 (50cl) from Sainsbury's.