West Country Ales

Moor Beer Amoor (peat porter)

2011-12-06T12:49:00.000-08:00

Moor Beer Amoor (peat porter)

formerly peat porter, now renamed Amoor. one of my favourite porters...probably of all time! Back in stock.

Real Ale in Somerset

2011-11-29T20:05:00.000-08:00

Cheddar Gorge Festive Night!
Friday -2nd December 2011

Ever popular and a real opportunity to grab some bargains. We’ll be having some case deals in-store on both cider and beer, as well as a nice drop of mulled wine (while it lasts!) to warm your cockles on the night.
All sorts of things to do, plenty for kids and grown ups and it really is worth popping down for the evening, not least to support your local businesses! Open till late......

West Country ales will be offering discounted real ale and cider cases on the night

Butts Brewery -Le Butts Biere

2011-11-15T07:35:00.000-08:00

Butts Brewery -Le Butts Biere

whole new range of bottle conditioned and organic beers!

Cheddar Ales Bitter Bully

2011-09-26T14:17:00.000-07:00

Cheddar Ales bitter bully new in bottles.Cheddar Ales –Bitter Bully New World style pale ale. Big, citrussy hop character with a refreshing dry finish. The latest addition to the Cheddar Ales bottled portfolio!

Beer online

2011-08-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

I sell beer online. it should be a fairly easy process......should be. But for the bloody couriers. I'm on my third one now and it they seem to adhere to the industry standard of 'deliver three....break one'.
Why would anyone want to use beer for a football?

Beer Snobbery

2011-07-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

You know one thing that still annoys me? Even after years of being in the beer trade? Beer Snobbery.

What to drink. When to drink it. How to drink it. What glass to drink it from. Must be bottle conditioned. Must be room temperature.....and so on, ad nausiam.

As far as i'm concerned it's all down to personal likes and dislikes. Sure there are guidelines but nothing I would say to stick to rigidly. Personally I prefer to drink my beer either at room temp or slightly chilled. Yes, for certain beers I believe that the glassware can enhance the experience but in no way would I attempt to lecture or God forbid convert someone else to what amount to my own personal preferences!
You like drinking stout at 4c. Fine, up to you. You don't like bottle conditioned beers...fine as well. i can understand that. I've tried some truly dreadful bottle conditioned beers in the past that, if they'd been drunk twice by someone then i'd have to question that person's sanity (or tastebuds).
Anyway, rant over. I'm going to drink a Moor Beer Fusion...from a brandy glass...at room temperature........and it'll damn well taste good!

Black IPA

2011-05-10T09:55:00.000-07:00

Had two of theses now, one by Moor Beer and the latest, proper Black by St Austells. Still not made up my mind if it's just a gimmick but I suppose at the end of the day anything new is good!
Controversial? A contradiction in terms? Certainly a subject for discussion; is there such a thing as a black India Pale Ale?

Whichever way you look at it, this beer is designed to challenge the sences.

Black as stout, close your eyes and taste and this beer is classic IPA. Powerful hops dominate the restrained chocolate and coffee notes from the carefully selected roasted malt. Whatever you thought you knew about beer, think again!

Beer Club: Silver

2011-04-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

Beer Club: Silver

St Austell -Clouded Yellow

2011-04-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

St Austell -Clouded Yellow

R.C.H. Brewery : Double Header

2011-04-12T00:43:00.000-07:00

R.C.H. Brewery : Double Header

West Country Cider Selection

2010-11-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

West Country Cider Selection

Mixed Case of Christmas Ales!

2010-11-24T10:59:00.000-08:00

Mixed Case of Christmas Ales!

Stouts, Porters and Dark Ales

2010-11-24T10:57:00.001-08:00

Stouts, Porters and Dark Ales

Red Heads & Golden Amber Ales

2010-11-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

Red Heads & Golden Amber Ales

Award Winning Real Ales -Best of the Best

2010-11-24T10:56:00.000-08:00

Award Winning Real Ales -Best of the Best

Pennard Vinyard Organic Mead

2010-11-24T10:55:00.000-08:00

Pennard Vinyard Organic Mead

2010-11-20T14:44:00.000-08:00

24 – 28 November – BBC Good Food Show, NEC Birmingham, CAMRA Beer Tasting by Jeff Evans

Featuring Moor Beer Old freddie Walker! Get along and give it a try!

awards

2010-10-27T03:02:00.000-07:00

Local Businesses Scoop a Treble for Somerset at National CAMRA Awards
The aficionados of the beer world gathered this Saturday 9th October at the Oval Cricket Ground in London to attend the CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Awards lunch and 2010 Champion Beer of Britain Awards ceremony. The event, that is the biggest of its kind in the country, recognises and rewards people and businesses that work to raise awareness and the quality of Real Ale in the UK and proved particularly successful for three Somerset businesses.

Paul Davey and Graham Dunbavan of R.C.H brewery in West Hewish picked up yet another award to add to a collection covering many years. Their P.G. Steam ale was voted Champion Bitter of Britain, a richly deserved Gold medal for this superb beer. Of course having been brewing since 1984, the brewery is no stranger to success having picked up national awards for several of their other beers in previous years. Traditional beers, brewed to the highest standard are the hallmark of this brewing institution and continue to be recognised as amongst the very best that British brewing has to offer.

Rounding off a highly successful day for Somerset brewers, Justin Hawke of Moor Beer in Pitney picked up the Silver medal for his excellent Revival Bitter in the Champion Bitter of Britain competition, making it a fantastic one-two for Somerset brewers in the most fiercely contested and highly regarded category. Although lacking a West Country accent, Justin brings a passion for beer and the local area, as well as a tendency towards fusing the wonders of real ale with the aggressively flavoured beers of his native California. Justin’s insistence on using only the finest ingredients and adding that little bit of magic make Moor Beer one of the most exciting and innovative breweries not just in Somerset but in the UK as a whole.

Finally, Fred Wilde of West Country Ales picked up the National Retailer of the Year award, beating off competition from many larger and more established businesses throughout the country. Now in its second year of trading from the heart of Cheddar Gorge, West Country Ales triumphed through a combination of great customer service, willingness to source and stock unusual beers and ciders and above all a commitment to promoting genuine Real Ale in a bottle. Totally thrilled at having received the award, owner Fred Wilde insisted, “I’m really happy that the time and effort that I invest in my business (sometimes to my wife’s dismay) has been appreciated by CAMRA, the most prestigious brewing industry organisation. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the support of my loyal customers in store and online and the fantastic ales being produced by the breweries of the West Country. What man would not be happy to be able to make a living from indulging in his personal passion? This is West Country Ales first National award and has certainly given me a thirst for more, so watch this space!”

Beer

2010-09-07T00:36:00.000-07:00

West Country Ales scoop a variety of awards at this years GBBF! St Austells in particular performed well, with Proper Job, Tribute and Admirals all picking up gongs. Admiral's Ale won best bottled beer and I can't say i'm surprised, it's absolutely superb.

R.C.H brewery won best bitter with Moor beer Revival coming in a respectable second. I'm a big, big fan of both breweries and can highly recommend either product.

lovely blondes

2010-07-29T00:41:00.000-07:00

It has to be said that I do like a tasty blonde. My wife would take exception to this if I happened to be talking about Scarlett Johansson (we’ll leave Carol Vorderman for another day) but in this case I am enthusing about my other ‘love’.........beer.

The West Country boasts some very fine blonde ales. As expected this term describes the colour of the beer itself but styles can range from light bodied, zesty summer ales to full flavoured malty, bitters.

It can be argued that IPA’s also belong in this category, due to their paler colour. However they tend to be so distinctly different from other blonde ales, both in regards to aroma and flavour, that I would tend to treat them as an entirely separate beast.

Do lagers also belong here? Well, that’s an interesting question in itself. Personally I would say yes and I do like a good lager myself; I’m not talking about the mass produced garbage that the large breweries churn out and the supermarkets sell at below cost in order to close down independent pubs and off licences ......(rant over) but rather a quality, micro brewed product.
One of my personal favourites is Teignworthy’s Beachcomber bottle conditioned lager beer. A crossover brew, it still manages to appeal to both lager and real ale drinkers.
Golden, with hints of citrus. Bittersweet and hoppy with a slightly bitter finish. Very suitable for those lager drinkers that accidently get invited to your barbeques.
Check out the website for more beautiful blondes!

Dark & Delicious

2010-05-23T01:36:00.000-07:00

The West Country has some superb dark ales, porters and stouts. English ales are for my money amongst the greatest in the World and the West Country can stake a claim to have more than a few brews numbered amongst those.
These beer styles are much more than just „winter warmers‟ being great food companions for a variety of different dishes, from aged cheddar to dark, rich and bitter chocolate dishes. They also make a stout (pardon the pun) base for flavoured beers. Scottish Kelpie and Alba ale, using seaweed and pine needles respectively. Coffee flavoured beer, whiskey „fusion‟ ales...a vast variety of flavours can be blended with darker beers as they are robust enough not to be swamped by the added ingredients.
One of the most interesting I‟ve heard of to date is a sloe flavoured beer, made in Somerset

food companion

2010-04-15T08:39:00.001-07:00

It astonishes me sometimes, that beer is seen by some as purely a 'pub drink' rather than something to be enjoyed as an accompaniment to food in the same way that fine wine is.
Good beer is at least as varied and distinct in flavour as is wine. In fact I would even say that styles vary more. It's not a case of red, white and rose. We have blonde beers, amber, dark, porters, stouts, wheat beers (both light and dark), lagers, fruit beers...the list goes on. There must be something there for everyone and every food!

Imagine a nice, rich smoke porter with rich venison stew. Or a Zesty, fruity blonde ale or a bottle conditioned Belgian wheat beer and white fish. Delicious!

The camra website has some useful ideas for beer as a food companion. No point re-writing it so i'll stick a link on here.

http://www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=282021

flavoured beers

2010-04-08T13:39:00.000-07:00

I'm a traditionalist at heart. Having said that I find myself a closet fan of flavoured beers. Fruit beers have been around for ages, Belgian beers are an obvious example, but there are also some superb British examples that really float my boat!
One of the most popular, brewed by the Willaim's Brothers in Scotland, is Froach. A light, almost lager like beer flavoured with Heather. It's nice but i prefer some of their lesser know products. Ebulum, a black Elderberry ale. Alba, a pine flavoured beer and a sweet, Tayberry flavoured beer called Roisin. Big fan.

There's also a growing trend towards cask maturisation using old spirit barrels. The most famous probably being Innis & Gunn oak aged beer. There's quite a few now using old whisky casks, Tullibardine 1488 and Brewdog Paradox but the most interesting i've sampled to date is from closer to home in Somerset. Justin at Moor Beer Company has very sucessfully combined the superb Old Freddie Walker dark ale with the full, powerful flavours of Somerset Cider Brandy. Rich, awesomely complex cask matured ale. I love it!

Moor Beer Fusion from www.westcountryales.co.uk

IPA

2010-04-05T02:01:00.000-07:00

Got to thinking recently about modern IPA's. I've got more than a few in stock at the minute but the differences in flavour, strength and individual interpretation of this historic beer style is quite something.
The latest one to arrive comes in at a very modest 3.8%abv. Now, it has it's own merits, nice floral hops and a refreshing zestiness but personally I love a beer along the lines of the old imperial IPA's. Big on hops, alcohol and soapy bitterness. For me the merits of this style rest on it's potential for massive flavours. My favourite to date has to be Moor Beer JJJ IPA. An awesome 9.5% and packed full of hops and huge barely wine flavours. Magic!
Any other suggestions very welcome as this has to be one of my favourite beer styles.

Welcome to the new West Country Ales blog!

2010-03-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

Isn't technology a marvelous thing! I get the chance to do two of my favourite things and make it look like work. Namely, drinking beer....and talking about drinking beer.

Well, where to start? I suppose our marvelous governments latest round of taxes. Beer has escaped relatively lightly and why not? After all cider is now a recovering and ever more popular market and therefore an ideal victim for the vultures on high.

Does this extra 10% tax help curb binge drinking? Of course not. As we're all aware the supermarkets will merely absorb this cost and rub their hands in glee that yet another niche industry wil be put under undue pressure whilst they reap the rewards of drinkers heading to them for cheap booze. Absolutely crazy.