Top ten winter ales
Heather Airlie of The Campaign for Real Ale picks her top winter ales as The National Winter Ale Festival (19-22nd Jan) kicks off in Manchester...
When someone asked me to name the ten best winter ales, the problem as ever is where to start. When one is in the midst of the National Winter Ales Festival, currently underway in Manchester, however, the problem is where to stop.
1. Moorhouses' Black Cat. This is a really good place to start. A dark mild, at 3.4% it will titivate without deadening your tastes.
2. Bank Top's Port o Call. A perennial favourite, this dark, dark porter from the Bolton brewer is so full of flavour it explodes on to the pallet.
3. Dark Rum Porter. Another porter worth seeking out is the more recent Dark Rum Porter, from Bogart Hole Clough. As it says on the tin, it's dark, it's porter and it has a glorious hint of rum!
4. Expresso from Dark Star. For those who like their coffee, this is a must; coffee and ale in one, how can you go wrong?
5. Liverpool Organics' Kitty Wilkinson. For something a bit sweeter, try this chocolate and vanilla stout, which at only 4.5% is easy drinking. The beer name is a tribute to a Liverpool heroine.
6. Chocolate Cherry Stout. If you're taste is more on the bitter side, this award-winning stout from Dunham Massey Brewery is a wonderful combination of flavours, with the almost sour cherry balancing out the sweetness that normally comes from chocolate beers.
7. Chocolate. If it is the chocolate that floats your boat, the Chocolate brewed by Manchester's Marble Brewery is the one to go for.
8. Smoked Porter. For those with a liking for smoked products, this ale from Wapping is definitely going to be of interest, although if the strength of 5% puts you off...
9. Hopstars' Smokey Joes Black Beer might be more drinkable at 4%.
10. Thornbridges' Saint Petersburg stout. This is one to finish with, as at 7.7% and bags of flavour, this may well coat your taste buds so thoroughly nothing else will compete! A good time to complete the Winter Ale tour.
19 January 2010
When someone asked me to name the ten best winter ales, the problem as ever is where to start. When one is in the midst of the National Winter Ales Festival, currently underway in Manchester, however, the problem is where to stop.
1. Moorhouses' Black Cat. This is a really good place to start. A dark mild, at 3.4% it will titivate without deadening your tastes.
2. Bank Top's Port o Call. A perennial favourite, this dark, dark porter from the Bolton brewer is so full of flavour it explodes on to the pallet.
3. Dark Rum Porter. Another porter worth seeking out is the more recent Dark Rum Porter, from Bogart Hole Clough. As it says on the tin, it's dark, it's porter and it has a glorious hint of rum!
4. Expresso from Dark Star. For those who like their coffee, this is a must; coffee and ale in one, how can you go wrong?
5. Liverpool Organics' Kitty Wilkinson. For something a bit sweeter, try this chocolate and vanilla stout, which at only 4.5% is easy drinking. The beer name is a tribute to a Liverpool heroine.
6. Chocolate Cherry Stout. If you're taste is more on the bitter side, this award-winning stout from Dunham Massey Brewery is a wonderful combination of flavours, with the almost sour cherry balancing out the sweetness that normally comes from chocolate beers.
7. Chocolate. If it is the chocolate that floats your boat, the Chocolate brewed by Manchester's Marble Brewery is the one to go for.
8. Smoked Porter. For those with a liking for smoked products, this ale from Wapping is definitely going to be of interest, although if the strength of 5% puts you off...
9. Hopstars' Smokey Joes Black Beer might be more drinkable at 4%.
10. Thornbridges' Saint Petersburg stout. This is one to finish with, as at 7.7% and bags of flavour, this may well coat your taste buds so thoroughly nothing else will compete! A good time to complete the Winter Ale tour.
19 January 2010
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