By the Horns West End Pils

West End Pils is a pilsner lager that's full of flavour.  It looks like a perfect traditional beer with its deep golden colour and frothy off-white head.

It smells surprisingly fragrant for a lager, with a combination of sweet malts, tangy hops and a slight hint of lime.  Flavour is similar with notes of malt and hopes, ending with a dry finish.  It's thin bodied but not watery and it's quite softly carbonated to give a smooth mouthfeel with a tingly finish.  

It's a very refreshing, tasty lager.  I wasn't expecting it to be so nice so it was a very pleasant surprise and it's one I would recommend trying.  Ale Be Seeing You again!

Brewed by By the Horns Brewing Co., London
4% ABV

My rating:

My Untappd score: 3.5/5

Find out more at By the Horns Brewing Co.

Madness Absolutely

I didn't realise when I bought it that like Iron Maiden, the group Madness have put their name to a selection of beers brewed initially by Portobello Brewery but now produced by The Great Yorkshire Brewery.  I actually picked this one up as the label caught my eye and I like to lighten my drinking of dark and ruby ales with a pale ale now and again.

This pours a beautiful clear golden yellow colour with a tight off-white head that doesn't budge even a millimetre.  Along with a whiff of hops, it has a very citrus and tropical aroma that made me think of pineapples and lemons.

Rather thin bodied and softly carbonated, the initial flavour of straw, biscuit and hops gives way to a bitter citrus aftertaste.  It all makes for a very crisp, dry and refreshing beer with just the right amount of citrus for me.

Very easy to drink, it leaves amazing lacing on the glass and it's rare for me to say it about a pale ale but I would be happy to have it again.

Brewed by The Great Yorkshire Brewery, North Yorkshire

4.2% ABV

My rating:

Find out more at The Great Yorkshire Brewery

Wylam Jakehead IPA

I was looking forward to this one as I had heard so much about it and it surprised me on every level.  Firstly the colour, I would have expected an IPA to be golden yellow but this is a ginger orange.  I got the impression that this wasn't going to be a regular IPA.

It smells very medicinal and orangey with an absolutely massive beige head. The head is so thick that I thought I might have needed a spoon to get through it.  So I love the colour, I love the head, the smell is intriguing now on to the taste...

The taste is far too strong for me, I felt like I needed to brush my tongue afterwards.  I often find that by increasing the alcohol volume the taste is overpowered and this was the case for me with Jakehead.  It just tasted of 'strong' ale, I couldn't differentiate between tastes and was disappointed that some of the orangey smell wasn't replicated in the flavour.  I'm not a big fan of citrus ales, so this just wasn't for me.

Brewed by Wylam Brewery, Northumberland

6.3% ABV

My rating:

Find out more at Wylam Brewery