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Butcombe Bitter (4%)
Comes from a micro set up in 1978 near Bristol and which now has around 500 outlets. The Bitter is amber-coloured with a ripe malt aroma, subtle citrus notes and an earthy and lingering hop bitterness. There’s a hint of sulphur from the water and the finish is long and refreshing.
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Dorset Durdle Door (5%)
Brewed in an attractive small brewery within a visitor centre in Weymouth, housed in the former Devenish Brewery. The beer has a tawny colour, a pear drop fruitiness and biscuity malt, with a long and complex finish balancing hops, fruit and roasted grain.
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Exmoor Gold (4.5%)
The beer that started the golden ale revolution, first brewed in the late 1980s. It’s made with West Country pale malt and three English hop varieties and has a powerful punch of earthy hop resins, lemon fruit, sappy malt and a hint of butterscotch. Wonderfully drinkable.
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Freeminer Speculation (4.8%)
A copper-coloured traditional bitter brewed by Don Burgess deep in the Forest of Dean. The highly complex beer uses pale, crystal and chocolate malts and is hopped with traditional Fuggles and Goldings. It offer peppery hops, dark fruit, chocolate and bitter hops in mouth and finish.
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O’Hanlon’s Original Port Stout (4.8%)
Brewed by Dubliner John O’Hanlon on a farm in Devon, using a recipe for a beer known in Ireland as a “corpse reviver”. Brewed with pale and darker malts plus two hop varieties, two bottles of port are added for every 36 gallons of stout. Smooth, sweet but roasty and life enhancing.
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Otter Bright (4.3%)
Brewed by the McCaig family in Devon with a passionate belief in the environment, recycling water, steam and raw materials. Bright is a golden ale brewed with English malts and hops. It delivers a tangy fruit character with a good balance of juicy malt and peppery hops and a dry finish.
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Bath Ales SPA (3.7%)
Now based in Bristol, despite the name, and produces an impressive 15,000 barrels a year. SPA is a tempting, sparkling golden ale with a tangy and tart citrus fruit character, juicy malt and a lingering hop bitterness. A wonderfully rewarding and quenching beer.
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B&T Edwin Taylor’s Extra Stout (4.5%)
Banks & Taylor was founded in Bedfordshire in 1982 and has a wide portfolio of beers. The stout is a superb example of the English – as opposed to the Irish – style with rich roasted malt balanced by coffee and chocolate notes and good hop bitterness.
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Ballard’s Midhurst Mild (3.5%)
Carola Brown launched her brewery in 1980 and was a powerful force in the early SIBA. She shows what a true, traditional mild should be like: deep biscuit and roasted grain flavours with subtle hints of burnt fruit and chocolate and a firm but gentle underpinning of hops.
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Chiltern Beechwood Bitter (4.3%)
Brewed by the Jenkinson family’s brewery near Aylesbury, founded in 1980 and the oldest independent brewery in the Chilterns. The Bitter is a traditional bronze/copper beer with rich malt, a hint of butterscotch and a long, increasingly dry and hoppy finish.
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Dark Star American Pale Ale (4.7%)
Comes from an expanding Sussex brewery supplying 150 pubs. American Pale Ale is true to style, using American hops and yeast. It offers an intensely fruity aroma and palate with sappy malt and citrus fruit in the mouth and an exceptionally dry, hoppy and fruity climax.
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Hogs Back TEA (4.2%)
The leading beer from a Surrey brewery that has become a major force in southern England. TEA stands for Traditional English Bitter and it means what it says on the tin: pale, crystal and chocolate and Fuggles deliver a deep malt character balanced by bitter hops and chocolate.
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Meantime London Pale (4.3%)
Brewed by a fast-growing London craft brewery that has recently moved to a new site with room to expand to 100,000 barrels a year. London Pale is an amber bitter brewed with English malts and hops and has a fine balance of juicy malt, hop bitterness and tart fruit.
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Sambrooks Wandle Ale (3.8%)
Brought brewing back to Wandsworth, south London, following the departure of Young’s. Founded by Duncan Sambrook and ex-Ringwood owner David Welsh, Wandle Ale, in the finest traditions of the area, has a deep hop bitterness balanced by sappy malt and tart citrus fruit.
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Welton’s Pride’n’ Joy (2.8%)
A remarkable beer, low in strength, but bursting with hops, malt and fruit. Ray Welton uses a complex recipe of pale, amber, chocolate, Munich and wheat malts and two English hop varieties. The beer has peppery hops, vinous fruit, sappy malt and hop resins. Remarkable!
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Larkins Porter (5.2%)
Regarded as one of the finest revivalist dark stouts and porters. It’s brewed by Bob Dockerty on a farm in Kent with a plentiful supply of Fuggles and Goldings hops. The beer is stunningly hoppy but the bitterness is balanced by roasted grain, chocolate and sultana and raisin fruit.
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Brodie’s Sunshine (4%)
Brewed by siblings James and Lizzie Brodie behind the William IV pub in Leytonstone, East London. Their five barrel plant produces a wide range of beers of which Sunshine offers a gold colour and a big blast of American hops that deliver a powerful citrus fruit character.
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Triple fff Alton’s Pride (3.8%)
A fine traditional copper-coloured bitter that was named Champion Beer of Britain in 2008. Brewed in Alton, Hampshire by Graham Trott with English malts and hops, it has a nutty and butterscotch character balanced by citrus fruit, with a malty, fruity and hoppy finish.
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Westerham William Wilberforce Freedom Ale (4.3%)
Brewed by Robert Wicks in Kent to commemorate the passage of anti-slavery legislation 200 years ago. Along with pale and crystal malts and English hops, Wicks uses Fairtrade demerera sugar: the result is a bittersweet beer with tart fruit and bitter hops.
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Brewster’s Hophead (3.6%)
Brewed by Sara Barton in Grantham, one of a growing number of women “brewsters” in the craft beer sector. Hophead, as the name implies, is packed with floral and piny hop flavours, including a rich grapefruit note in the finish, but hops are balanced by a clean maltiness.
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Nethergate Old Growler (5%)
From the Essex/Suffolk border is based on an 18th-century London recipe for Porter and its colour stems from pale and black malts, with Challenger adding hop bitterness. It’s a fascinating beer with spicy hops, chocolate notes, roasted grain and a touch of liquorice and dark fruit.
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Woodforde’s Wherry (3.8%)
One of the best-selling beers in East Anglia and is the flagship brand of Woodforde’s. Brewed with finest-quality Maris Otter pale malt and crystal malts with English Goldings and Styrian hops, the bronze beer has orange and lemon fruit balanced by grassy hops and rich malt.
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Crouch Vale Brewers Gold (4%)
From a long-standing micro in Essex won the unique distinction of being named Champion Beer of Britain two years’ running. This exceptional beer is made with lager malt and German hops and has a toasted malt aroma with grapefruit from the hops and a hoppy/fruity finish.
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Mighty Oak Oscar Wilde (3.7%)
Cockney rhyming slang for Mild and this Essex-brewed beer shows the style needn’t lack flavour and character. Pale and darker malts combine with Challenger hops to produce a beer with dark fruit, coffee, chocolate, smoky malt and a good underpinning of hop bitterness.
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Burton Bridge XL Bitter (4%)
Comes from a brew-pub that helped restore Burton’s brewing pride. XL Bitter is a Burton classic, with a typical sulphurous aroma from the mineral-rich local water allied to a big malt, hops and citrus fruit character, finishing with a dry, clean and bitter finish.
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Thornbridge Jaipur IPA (5.9%)
Comes from a fast-growing and innovative craft brewery in Bakewell, Derbyshire. It’s brewed with English pale malt and two American hops, Cascade and Chinook. The beer has a luscious tropical fruit character balancing sweet malt and bitter hops. The finish is dry and quenching.
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Brunswick Triple Hop (4%)
Brewed in the Brunswick pub in Derby, part of a row of cottages built for Victorian railway workers. Landlord and brewer Graham Yates offers a wide range of ales of which Triple Hop is the stand-out brew, pale gold and with great hop attack from American varieties.
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Alcazar Bombay Castle IPA (6.5%).
Alcazar is located behind the Fox & Crown pub in Old Basford, Nottingham, but supplies other pubs in the area. This is what a true IPA should look and taste like: pale bronze with a tremendous kick of hops from English varieties balancing rich juicy malt.
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Castle Rock Harvest Pale (3.8%)
The current Champion Beer of Britain from Chris Holmes’ Nottingham plant that has just extended to 20,000 barrels a year. The beer has a superb piny, floral and citrus fruit character from American hops, balanced by sweet malt. The brewery struggles to keep up with demand.
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Teme Valley T’Other (3.5%)
Brewed behind the Talbot pub in Worcestershire, using Fuggles hops from the surrounding fields and farms. An amazingly full-flavoured beer for its strength, the amber ale offers rich, biscuity malt, spicy hop notes and a long and lingering dry finish with hops and tart fruit.
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Three Tuns XXX (4.3%)
Brewed in a classic tower brewery in Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire. It’s England’s oldest licensed brewery, supplying the adjacent Three Tuns coaching inn. The beer was fashioned to refresh farm workers and has a sweet malt and gentle hop character that is wonderfully refreshing.
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Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby (6%)
Based on a 1920s recipe that proves that Mild Ale doesn’t have to be low in strength. A blend of pale and crystal malts and Fuggles and Goldings hops result in a beer like a tube of Maynard’s Wine Gums but with the fruitiness balanced by spicy and peppery hops. An amazing beer.
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Olde Swan Original (3.5%)
Comes from a brew-pub in Dudley better known as Ma Pardoe’s after the matriarch who ruled it for years. Original is a fascinating example of a now rare light mild, straw coloured, smooth, malty, sweet in the Midlands fashion but with a light, lingering hint of hops.
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Batham Mild Ale (3.5%)
Brewed alongside the family’s Vine Pub in Brierley Hill near Dudley and is a fine example of a Victorian mild fashioned for thirsty Black Country industrial workers. As well as rich roasted malt and light hops, the beer has a fruitiness reminiscent of blackcurrants.
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Acorn Barnsley Bitter (3.8%)
Dave Hughes has restored a much-loved beer with Barnsley Bitter: the original brewery was closed by John Smith’s in the 1970s. The beer has a typical Yorkshire character with creamy malt balanced by good hop bitterness and a hint of chocolate from darker malt.
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Anglo Dutch Tabatha the Knackered (6%)
Veteran CAMRA member Mike Field has joined forced with Paul Klos from Holland to restore Dewsbury’s brewing traditions. Tabatha is a strong, golden beer brewed in the Belgian Tripel style, packed with rich malt, hops and citrus fruit, and warming alcohol.
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Hambleton Nightmare (5%)
Nick Stafford’s Yorkshire brewery took off in 1996 when he won CAMRA’s Champion Winter Beer award with this interpretation of Porter. Brewed with pale and roasted malts and Northdown hops, it has bitter fruit, roasted grain, chocolate and tangy hop resins on the aroma and palate.
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Kelham Island Pale Rider (5.2%)
From Sheffield was named Champion Beer of Britain in 2004 and the pale colour, derived from pale malt and a touch of wheat malt, shouldn’t disguise the fact that this is an exceptionally bitter and fruity beer due to the use of American Willamette hops. Complex and memorable.
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Roosters Yankee (4.3%)
Brewed by Sean Franklin in Yorkshire where he has a rare passion for hops. Yankee uses American Cascade hops for their lychees aroma and flavour. The beer offers massive tart citrus fruit on aroma and palate, allied to light biscuity malt and floral hops. Complex and rewarding.
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Rudgate Ruby Mild (4.4%)
Further proof that Mild Ale need not be lacking in strength. Champion Beer of Britain in 2009, the York-brewed beer has a bright ruby colour and a nutty flavour balanced by rich, dark fruit, roasted grain, hints of chocolate and coffee, and a good underpinning of bitter hops.
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Concertina Bengal Tiger (4.6%)
The Concertina Band Club in Mexborough, south Yorkshire, is the last remaining clubs’ brewery in the country: it once had an award-winning concertina band. Beers from the brewery in the cellar include Bengal Tiger, an IPA, with a great hop bitterness and juicy malt character.
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Hawkshead Lakeland Gold (4.4%)
Comes from an expanding micro in Cumbria run by former BBC reporter Alex Brodie. The beer proves that golden ales don’t have to be bland – Lakeland Gold zings with great hop and citrus fruit character, balanced by juicy malt. It finishes dry, hoppy and refreshing.
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Hesket Newmarket Blencathra Bitter (3.3%)
Shows that a beer low in alcohol can still have plenty of character. It’s brewed in Cumbria by a brewery behind the Old Crown pub, both run as co-ops by villagers. The bitter is copper coloured, with a caramel note balancing chewy malt and good hop bitterness.
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Moorhouse’s Black Cat (3.4%)
Mild of a different character, brewed in Burnley and winner of the Champion Beer of Britain title in 2000. It’s brewed with pale and chocolate malts and Fuggles hops that deliver a beer rich in chocolate, dark fruit and spicy hops character with a hint of burnt fruit.
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Coniston Bluebird Bitter (3.6%)
The brewery opened behind the Black Bull Inn in 1995 and three years’ later won the Champion Beer of Britain award for Bluebird. The pale bronze beer has an enticing aroma and palate of hop resins and biscuity malt, with a smooth, hoppy and quenching finish.
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Marble Lagonda IPA (5%)
Brewed by a Manchester pub with a second brewery in the city. All the beers are strictly organic and the IPA is a golden beer with citrus fruit on the aroma, juicy malt, bitter hops and tart fruit in the mouth and a long, dry, fruity and bitter finish. It’s a fine example of the style.
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Mordue Workie Ticket (4.5%)
Named Champion Beer of Britain in 1997 just two years after brothers Gary and Matthew Fawson revived Geordie brewing in Wallsend. A rich bitter with a burnished deep bronze colour, it’s brewed from three malts and three English hops and is creamy, chocolaty, fruity and bitter.
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Big Lamp Prince Bishop Ale (4.8%)
Comes from the oldest micro-brewery in the North-east and is based in an old water-pumping station. Prince Bishop Ale is deceptively golden in colour but packs a punch with a big aroma and palate of malt, fruit and hops, with a long, bitter finish.
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Harviestoun Bitter & Twisted (3.8%)
Put Scottish micros on the map when it was named Champion Beer of Britain in 2003. It’s brewed with pale and crystal malts, plus oats and English and German hops. The extremely pale beer has creamy malt, spicy hops and tart citrus fruit, with a fruity and malty finish.