The Ale Archive

The brewery: “Here at West Berkshire Brewery, we champion traditional brewing techniques and showcase the finest UK hops to produce high quality, distinctive and award-winning real ales and craft beers. We’re an independent brewery with over 23 years of brewing experience.” The beer: “This beautifully balanced session ale has a refreshing light floral flavour provided by a single variety of English hops. Mr Chubbs was the nickname given to the founder’s father, a lock keeper on the River Thames.” Certainly not too florally for me - in fact I enjoyed it very much and the flavour belied it’s strength - 3.7% A.B.V Walkers of Whitehall , London. February 2018

The brewery: “When Fyne Ales was founded in 2001, the aim was to bring prosperity – jobs, industry and tourism – to the quiet, isolated corner of Scotland that our founders’ call home. We’re proud to be a modern, rural farm brewery – to use our stunning, rustic Argyll estate not only for sustainable farming, but as a base for producing the highest quality progressive beers that are enjoyed all over the world.” The beer: “Cask special - December 2018…..Gentle stone-fruit flavours with a hint of citrus lightness underpinned by smooth, rounded malt backbone and a touch of rye spice in the finish….Brewed on a very wet November day when the River Fyne threatened to burst its banks, Ryesing Water is hoppy session ale with NZ, USA and UK hops, built on a backbone of complex malt including heaps of chewy, lightly spicy rye.” Despite the description I didn’t find this too hoppy - maybe the rye and malts kept those pesky hops in check somewhat. I didn’t find it particularly memorable for the ri...