500ml bottle: best before Feb 2013, poured into a UK pint sleeve glass on 5th Aug 2012. Dull, old gold body with a full white crown of bubbles on top. Mini citrus nose with hints of a malty content below the surface. The taste followed the smell, citrusy hops leading the flavours with a mild malt influence trying to stop the tangy, spritzy hop content completely taking over. OK, but no world beater.

Tornado: 500ml bottle: best before Dec 2012, poured into an Old Speckled Hen badged pint vase on 3rd Aug 2012. Looked fine: a good amber body with carbonisation bubbles rising through, up to the full creamy head of an off-white colour. Some good lacing held onto the glass during this tasting. Resinus nose with hints of bread. Almost sour and certainly bitter, where have the malts gone from the bready aroma? To be fair, as the beer warmed in the glass it appeared to get a bit more maltier and less sour in the mouthfeel. My first beer of the evening and not too bad.

500ml bottle. Pours dark brown with a thin head. Aroma is chocolate, bitter coffee and dark fruity malt. Taste has liquorice to start with a strong coffee finish.

Bottle from Co-op Headington, Oxford 17.06.12 consumed at home the same day. Pours dark gold with white head, fairly standard bitter with a little soapiness in there and a bitter finish, dry towards the end. Its ok. A6 A4 T6 P3 Ov11 3.0

500ml bottle. Pours dark orange with a thin head. Aroma is orange, bread and bitter coffee. Taste has some orange to start. Bitter burnt hop finish. A little vinegar.

This beer is named after the late Mr W Mucklow, the last brewer in Bewdley (1912) before the new brewery opened a few years ago. The brown 500ml bottled conditioned beer was poured slowly into an Abbot Ale glass tankard (Aug 2011) some four months before it’s best before date. William Mucklow brewed a sweet dark Mild in his day, the recipe now also gone, this brew is trying to replicate that long forgotten formula. Very dark brown in colour, the thin tanned head soon left the scene and nothinmg sat on top of the moody looking brew. Just a hint of a necklace around the liquids edges. Sweet molasses and roasted/toasted malts hit the nose, chocolate esters coming through as the beer began to warm in the glass (this beer should not be refrigerated anyway). The taste/flavours were almost identical to the smells, with the chocolate becoming stronger as my taste buds became used to the intermix of flavours. Some suggestion of plums and mixed dried fruits (like in a rich cake) also appeared in the aftertaste. Good depth of body, the alcohol content sitting well within the brew and complimenting the flavours nicely. A lot better than the first beer I reviewed from this brewery (thank goodness).

Sep 2011: Pint, bottled conditioned, poured into a UK pint sleeve. Named after a long country walking route. Light amber colour with a full white foaming head, looks good. The aroma is of citrusy hops, First Gold, Celiea and Fuggles being the reason. The taste is an easy mix of these aforementioned hops and pale malts, giving a session beer of great depth and flavour. Crisp and well carbonated, this is a well crafted brew with the 3.6% ABV tucked away nicely, I’m off to Bewdley before the end of the year, hope I can find some of this on cask.