More reasons
Went to Morrisons today for some bread and happened upon their drinks section. What a fantastic choice of ales hitherto unbeknownst to me! And what’s more, they have a four for £5 deal. Naturally I didn’t waste any time availing myself of a small selection of these fine Northern beverages.
So far I’ve sampled a bottle of Jennings‘ Cocker Hoop (4.6% ABV). This is a delicious golden ale from the Cumbrian brewers, apparently incorporating Styrian Golding hops. Does that mean hops from Styria in Austria or does it merely refer to the type of hop? Either way it’s a beauty. I’ll definitely be purchasing more of this frothy monster.
Ward’s Best Bitter (4% ABV) is a beer with an interesting past. Well, I found it interesting, at least. A popular Yorshire bitter from the 1840s until 1999, when the brewery was shut down by its owners, The Swallow Group PLC, it was recently taken over by the Double Maxim Beer Company Ltd with two well-intentioned chaps called Doug Trotman and Mark Anderson at the helm. As far as I can tell, it’s distributed by the Jennings Brewery (see above). But enough of that - it’s a fine, fine ale. One of the best bottled ales I’ve ever tasted, in fact. It achieves pretty damn close to the perfect balance: not too strong, not too weak and with a delicious aftertaste, especially when compared with the faintly chemical tang of some bottled ales. Full marks to this one, then.
