The Ale Archive

The Brewery: “Weetwood Ales began brewing in 1992 when finding a great pint of cask ale was a challenge. The brewery was founded by Adrian Slater, a skilled brewer, and Roger Langford, a farmer with space in a barn and a love for proper beer. Roger’s farm is in Weetwood Common, near Tarporley in Cheshire and the brewery took the name” The Beer: “The first beer we brewed and still many people’s favourite Weetwood ale. Brewed with British malted barley and hops to produce the rounded flavour and sharp bitterness of a classic Best Bitter” I was delighted to get my chops around a bottle of this after having tried a number of other beers in the range earlier in the year - this one was out of stock at the time. Given it’s strength it may not be a true Best Bitter - according to CAMRA certainly, but it was lovely. Nothing flash just a decent tasting beer that appealed to my awkward taste buds. I’m hoping that a possible trip to the North-West next year might yield the chance to try this on ...

The Brewery: “In 1992, Paul Theakston took a daring leap into the unknown. As a fifth generation brewer of his family company, he chose to leave T&R Theakstons following its sale to a national brewery. Instead, he chose to champion independent brewing in Yorkshire and built his own brewery from reclaimed equipment in the very same town, Masham…..Paul is the Black Sheep.” The Beer: “Famously “tempered over burning witches”, Holy Grail was originally created to commemorate the 30 th anniversary of Monty Python, and is a much-loved part of our bottled beer collection. Some 19 years on, The beer has been given a new lease of life with the recent reunion and the subsequent Spamalot tour…….Monty Python’s Holy Grail is a light golden beer with a fresh, zesty taste and a long crisp bitter finish. It’s brewed with a mixture of hops, including WGV, which gives the beer a light fruity nose. It’s a real tongue pleaser.” I tried the bottled version of this in 2016 and am not a great fan to b...