Ant's Ale Omnibus

*Guest post by Ant*

Badger Golden Glory, Hall & Woodhouse (4.5% abv): This is a floral ale with a fruity peachy aroma. Very sweet, refreshing and crisp - a throughly pleasurable ale to drink. Perfect for a summer festival, BBQ or simply sitting in the dark with the curtains shut on a summer day.

Hooky Gold, Hook Norton Brewery (4.1%) (pictured left): This is a pleasant pale beer made in Oxfordshire. Has a slightly bitter flavour, but with a nice, fruity aftertaste. There's a vague lingering citrus taste too, which is nice and helps give this beer an interesting mix of flavours. Very drinkable.

Badger Fursty Ferret, Hall & Woodhouse (4.4%): An amber beer with a hint of orange. Quite refreshing, mildly gassy and leaves a slight bitter aftertaste. A very drinkable ale.

Early Bird Spring Hop Ale, Shepherd Neame (4.3%): This ale is brewed just down the road from me, in Faversham, Kent, by Britain's oldest brewer Shepherd Neame. It's a golden, slightly fruity beer, quite crisp and refreshing, but with one of those mildly bitter aftertastes. Almost has a slight washing-up liquid taste, like some 'real' bitter does. It's a love or hate thing, like Marmite. Personally, I don't mind a dark, bittery ale, but for the pale, golden variety, this is a bit sour for me. Maybe I'm a wus. I can feel the shaking-headed, disapproving look of local, seasoned Kentish ale drinkers as I write this. Perhaps I'll re-review it when I'm 60.

Humdinger, Joseph Holt (4.1%) (pictured right): This is a quirky and unusual beer. What hit me initially, is the strong citrus flavour, followed by a mildly, sweet honey aftertaste. They describe this beer as having a "Mexican aroma", and as ludicrous as that may sound, for a beer made by Mancunians, it does weirdly remind me of Sol, and Mexican 'style' beers. Very enjoyable - perfect for a hot, summer day, should we ever experience one again in the UK.

Barnstormer, Bath Ales (4.5%) (pictured top): This is a truly, truly delicious dark ale. A very smooth beer, not too bitter, and with a vague sweet, fruity flavour. I foolishly only purchased one bottle and now have to contemplate walking to the shops again, (in the rain) to allow me to imbibe more of this glorious beverage tonight. I'm in ale heaven!

Alcoholic Ginger Beer, Crabbie's (4%): A slight detour from the others - but interesting nevertheless. A very tasty 4% ginger beer, with a fruity, spicy flavour, followed by the natural gassy post-drink sensation you'd expect from ginger beer (the non-alcoholic variety). Feels like cheating really - like drinking a booze-based can of Coke. Wrong, but nice.