The Caledonian Brewery was founded by Messrs Lorimer and Clark in 1869 and was sold to Vaux of Sunderland in 1919. In 1987, the brewery was saved from closure by a management buy-out. The brewery site was purchased by Scottish & Newcastle in 2004 and became a wholly owned subsidiary of S&N/Heineken in 2008. A rolling programme of seasonal beers is produced, as well as Deuchars IPA and Caledonian 80/-.
Golden Promise claims to be the first organically brewed beer in Britain. It is named after Scotland's most famous malting barley, which is prized by brewers and distillers for producing a beautiful rounded sweet malt flavour, said to be reminiscent of Ovaltine. Organically grown aroma hops are added to Caledonian's unique direct fired open coppers to create this award winning beer.
The beer is a rich golden colour, full of spicy aromas with hints of cinnamon and vanilla. It has a clean dry crisp taste, lively and thirst quenching, with a noticeable finish that tastes of sherbert lemons.
It uses organic Optic malt together with the addition of organic whole hop flowers First Gold and Hallertau Hersbrucker. The ABV is 5% (but only 4.4% for the draught version apparently). It is not bottle conditioned.
Sunday 21 March 2010
Saturday 20 March 2010
Badger Fursty Ferret
Founded by Charles Hall in 1777, Hall and Woodhouse is an independent family brewer, today run by the fifth generation of the Woodhouse family. The badger logo was adopted in 1875, making it one of the oldest trademarks on record. The company moved from Ansty to its present site at Blandford St Mary in Dorset in 1900 and a new brewery is planned on the current site.
Many would argue that the Gribble Inn at Oving is one of the most attractive pubs in the county of Dorset. For many years it was just a private cottage lived in by a Miss Rose Gribble but in 1980 a local farmer was granted a licence and the inn opened as a free house. It was acquired by Hall and Woodhouse in 1987.
Fursty Ferret was originally brewed at the Gribble Inn, where it proved hugely popular, with demand hugely exceeding supply and the capability of the microbrewery. It is now brewed by Hall and Woodhouse and has become a favourite seasonal cask ale and is one of the best selling bottled ales in UK supermarkets today. The original recipe was researched and updated to meet the expressed needs of the modern day bottled ale consumer.
When in decades past the idyllic country home of Miss Rose Gribble became a local inn, legend has it that the local ferrets frequented the pub's back door on a mission to sample the its own reputed brew. In their honour, it was named Fursty Ferret and it is now brewed in much greater quantities so that beer drinkers across the UK can enjoy the celebrated ale that still eludes the ferrets of Gribble.
Fursty Ferret is a crisp, well balanced premium ale with a malty palate and and a noticeably hoppy aroma. It is a tawny amber ale. The delicate spicy hop aroma has hints of Seville oranges and the sweet, nutty palate has a good sweet bitter balance.
The label tells us that the beer contains malted barley, wheat and sulphites. ABV is 4.4% and it is not bottle conditioned.
Many would argue that the Gribble Inn at Oving is one of the most attractive pubs in the county of Dorset. For many years it was just a private cottage lived in by a Miss Rose Gribble but in 1980 a local farmer was granted a licence and the inn opened as a free house. It was acquired by Hall and Woodhouse in 1987.
Fursty Ferret was originally brewed at the Gribble Inn, where it proved hugely popular, with demand hugely exceeding supply and the capability of the microbrewery. It is now brewed by Hall and Woodhouse and has become a favourite seasonal cask ale and is one of the best selling bottled ales in UK supermarkets today. The original recipe was researched and updated to meet the expressed needs of the modern day bottled ale consumer.
When in decades past the idyllic country home of Miss Rose Gribble became a local inn, legend has it that the local ferrets frequented the pub's back door on a mission to sample the its own reputed brew. In their honour, it was named Fursty Ferret and it is now brewed in much greater quantities so that beer drinkers across the UK can enjoy the celebrated ale that still eludes the ferrets of Gribble.
Fursty Ferret is a crisp, well balanced premium ale with a malty palate and and a noticeably hoppy aroma. It is a tawny amber ale. The delicate spicy hop aroma has hints of Seville oranges and the sweet, nutty palate has a good sweet bitter balance.
The label tells us that the beer contains malted barley, wheat and sulphites. ABV is 4.4% and it is not bottle conditioned.
Tuesday 9 March 2010
Daleside Old Leg Over
The Daleside Brewery opened in 1991 in Harrogate, the Victorian spa town famous for its healing waters, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It has expanded several times over the years. It uses the best quality malts, whole leaf hops, Daleside's own yeast and Harrogate water. The adoption of the full traditional brewing process together with the pride and expertise of the family tradition and the quality ingredients are all aimed at securing the high quality of Daleside's beers.
Old Leg Over is a well balanced mid-brown refreshing beer with nutty overtones, followed by an equally well-balanced late fruity bittersweet aftertaste. There appears no explanation for the rather quaint choice of name. It is designed to be an essentially Yorkshire beer with malt tastes slightly more prominent than hoppy flavours, though not so much as to not be well balanced.
As far as ingredients go, all we are told is that it contains malted barley and wheat, though like all Daleside beers it is brewed using quality grain malts from a traditional Yorkshire maltster, an unique yeast strain, full-leafed hops and Yorkshire Dales water. ABV is 4.1% and the beer is not bottle-conditioned.
Trivial factoid - the Daleside Brewery sponsor the Auld Lang Syne Fell Race held every New Years Eve and every entrant gets a bottle of Old Leg Over.
Old Leg Over is a well balanced mid-brown refreshing beer with nutty overtones, followed by an equally well-balanced late fruity bittersweet aftertaste. There appears no explanation for the rather quaint choice of name. It is designed to be an essentially Yorkshire beer with malt tastes slightly more prominent than hoppy flavours, though not so much as to not be well balanced.
As far as ingredients go, all we are told is that it contains malted barley and wheat, though like all Daleside beers it is brewed using quality grain malts from a traditional Yorkshire maltster, an unique yeast strain, full-leafed hops and Yorkshire Dales water. ABV is 4.1% and the beer is not bottle-conditioned.
Trivial factoid - the Daleside Brewery sponsor the Auld Lang Syne Fell Race held every New Years Eve and every entrant gets a bottle of Old Leg Over.
Sunday 7 March 2010
Elgood's Golden Newt
Well, here's a change from all these breweries that were started yesterday. The North Brink Brewery was established in 1795 and was one of the first classic Georgian breweries to be built outside London. In 1878 it came under the control of the Elgood family and it is still run today as one of the few remaining independent family breweries, with the fifth generation of the family currently involved in running the brewery.
Golden Newt is a modern-style light hoppy beer. It is named after the colony of Great Crested Newts residing in the brewery garden lake. It's a golden ale with a floral hops and sulphur aroma. Tastewise, floral hops and a fruity presence on a bittersweet background lead to a short, muted hoppy and fruity finish.
It is brewed from East Anglian malted barley with a blend of malt wheat, amber malt and English Fuggle and Golding hops. The distinctive hop aroma comes from American Cascade hops. ABV is 4.6% and it is not bottled-conditioned.
Golden Newt is a modern-style light hoppy beer. It is named after the colony of Great Crested Newts residing in the brewery garden lake. It's a golden ale with a floral hops and sulphur aroma. Tastewise, floral hops and a fruity presence on a bittersweet background lead to a short, muted hoppy and fruity finish.
It is brewed from East Anglian malted barley with a blend of malt wheat, amber malt and English Fuggle and Golding hops. The distinctive hop aroma comes from American Cascade hops. ABV is 4.6% and it is not bottled-conditioned.
Wold Top Falling Stone
The Wold Top Brewery is an integral part of Hunmanby Grange, the Mellor family farm, which is situated high on the Yorkshire Wolds where gently sloping hills give way to the sea. Brewing commenced in 2003 and uses home grown malted barley, chalk-filtered borehole water and some grown grown hops.
Falling Stone is Wold Top's best bitter. It is named after the 'Wold Cottage Meteorite', which fell on the Yorkshire Wolds in 1795 and now stands in the British Museum. It is a full-bodied, smooth and well-rounded beer with a darker colouring, good but perhaps not quite as special as all the hype might lead you to expect.
Maris Otter together with some chocolate malt form the basis of the beer. It contains Progress and Northdown hops for flavouring and aroma. Its is 4.2% ABV and is not bottle conditioned.
Falling Stone is Wold Top's best bitter. It is named after the 'Wold Cottage Meteorite', which fell on the Yorkshire Wolds in 1795 and now stands in the British Museum. It is a full-bodied, smooth and well-rounded beer with a darker colouring, good but perhaps not quite as special as all the hype might lead you to expect.
Maris Otter together with some chocolate malt form the basis of the beer. It contains Progress and Northdown hops for flavouring and aroma. Its is 4.2% ABV and is not bottle conditioned.
Monday 1 March 2010
Dent Golden Fleece
We have encountered the Dent Brewery, back in March of last year, but the entry then did not say much about the brewery itself so let's make up that deficiency. I know the village of Dent well as I visit it at least once every year, to run the road race they have there each March. Dentdale is in that part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park that is actually in Cumbria. The brewery was originally set up in 1990 in a converted barn to brew beer for the Sun Inn, one of the two pubs in the village. However, its popularity spread as other landlords in the Dales and Lakes cottoned on, and also visitors from the area created demand that resulted in Dent beers being exported to places like Manchester Liverpool and Leeds. Strangely, the beers no longer seem to be available in the Sun, but they are very much in evidence in the George and Dragon, the other pub in the village.
Dent Golden Fleece is named after Jason and the Argonauts who in the mists of antiquity set sail for Colchis in search of the fabled Golden Fleece. After many heroic adventures, the Golden Fleece was captured and taken back to Greece. While Jason's fate was well documented, the Fleece vanished from history...until a chance shaft of golden sunlight revealed that Dent sheep had inherited the gene!
It is a bright (ie not bottle conditioned) golden ale with a well-balance hop flavour. I like a good golden ale and this is an excellent example of one. As the label says, unlike the poor unfortunate Jason, this Golden Fleece will give you a happy ending with a long lasting satisfaction.
All Dent beers are made with waters taken from the local Rise Hill spring. The only information given about ingredients is that this beer contains malted barley. Its ABV is 3.7%.
Dent Golden Fleece is named after Jason and the Argonauts who in the mists of antiquity set sail for Colchis in search of the fabled Golden Fleece. After many heroic adventures, the Golden Fleece was captured and taken back to Greece. While Jason's fate was well documented, the Fleece vanished from history...until a chance shaft of golden sunlight revealed that Dent sheep had inherited the gene!
It is a bright (ie not bottle conditioned) golden ale with a well-balance hop flavour. I like a good golden ale and this is an excellent example of one. As the label says, unlike the poor unfortunate Jason, this Golden Fleece will give you a happy ending with a long lasting satisfaction.
All Dent beers are made with waters taken from the local Rise Hill spring. The only information given about ingredients is that this beer contains malted barley. Its ABV is 3.7%.
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