Couple of bottles from Batemans last night for me;

Dark Lord - A beautiful dark ruby beer with a rich flavour and spicy and citrus hints which complement a lovely roast malt character (5.0% ABV).

Victory Ale - A strong pale ale with a fruity aroma and a full flavour of nicely balanced malt and hops (6.0% ABV).

Both tried and tested and very enjoyable.

Is this what it said on the bottles.....or are you doing an Oz?

Thorne Brewery, for those of you were interested, just got a whole lot closer.

Six of one and half a dozen of the other.

Bottles again tonight;

Thwaites Lancaster Bomber
Thwaites Liberation
Adnams Broadside
Wychwood Hobgoblin
Batemans XXXB

In terms of bottled beers, all very satisfying.

How's your liver?

Went to watch the Seagulls v Halifax yesterday only to find that the Cocked Hat pub nr the stadium had closed a fortnight ago.not a happy bunney

The Carlton (only a short walk away) is always worth a visit. Usually has about half-a-dozen real ales available.

Went there at 12_30. it was closed !!

Recently sampled;

Centurions Ghost (York Brewery) - always enjoyable.
Evolution Ale (HB Clarks) - passable.
Metropolitan Ale (Cottage Brewery) - another excellent ale from this brewery.
Pride of the River (Brakspear) - not to my taste at all!

Gatehouse for a couple of hours earlier this evening;

Pints of Mosquito Photo Recce (Elland Brewery), Ruddles Best and Abbot Ale.

Seemed to be as many beers 'coming soon' as there were available.

'Available soon'....it's not a picture house.

I stand corrected.

Reference the Cocked Hat, CAMRA already had the following update to their 2009 Good Beer Guide;

Cocked Hat (East Sheffield) - Deleted - no longer sells real ale.

Nothing registered yet about it being closed. Pity, always enjoyed a pint or two there before matches when the Dons visited Sheffield.

At last the news you were waiting for: www.thornebrewery.com

At last the news you were waiting for: www.thornebrewery.com

Not really real ale but ....

Did anyone drink the stuff the Keepmoat serves up as Bitter on Saturday afternoon and feel poorly by early evening as a result (and I'm only talking personally about a couple of pints so quality is the issue not quantity)???

They must have mistaken you for a Queens supporter.

Seriously, felt dreadful for 48 hours from Saturday evening. Violently ill and in truth, its not the first time after a visit to the 'moat but certainly the worst.

I've never heard of anyone getting food poisoning from beer, even keg muck. You didn't have a pie as well did you - a much more likely source of infection.

No, nothing to eat or drink at home after 11.00am.

Two pints at the stadium, one about 2.30pm and the other just over an hour later, still nothing more to eat.

By about half past six started to feel unwell and three quarters of an hour later commenced being violently ill.

On arrival at the ground we were required to use a bar which hasn't been used much of late, just wondering if everything wasn't quite as it should have been?

Timing-wise i.e. 4 to 5 hours, would fit with food poisoning. Doesn't sound like anyone else affected though so might have just been a bug.

Had a cracking pint of Ashover Coffin Lane stout on Sunday night followed by a pint of Thornbridge Kipling. Made up in some way for the Saturday debacle.

Not sure that even quality ale would have made up for that. But life goes on (so they say).

Excellent afternoon out in York today. Included sampling the following;

Rudgate Ruby Mild (Tap and Spile)
York Brewery Centurions Ghost (Last Drop Inn)
Adnams Bitter (Blue Bell)
York Brewery Wonky Donkey (Three Legged Mare)
Timothy Taylor Ram Tam (Brigantes)
Newsome Brewery Pricky Back Otchan (Punch Bowl)

All very enjoyable.

Had all these before, including, remarkably enough, the Newsome brew in a bottle last Xmas. I concur with your findings by the way



I'm sure we had this conversation last year but watering holes en route to Barrow? Barring the Hawkshead Brewery on-site bar and the Watermill at Ings, I don't know of any. Any pointers? I hear there's a good 'un at Ambleside.

Depends how much time you have to spare and how far off the main route you are prepared to drift?

The Watermill Inn at Ings is probably my favourite pub in Cumbria, though not really en-route to Barrow from Doncaster.

The one at Ambleside is most likely to be the Golden Rule (on the road to Kirkstone) - a regular in the GBG but again off the main route to Barrow.

Ones en-route (i.e. on or near A590);

White Hart at Bouth (LA12 8JB)
Ship Inn at Greenodd (LA12 7QZ)
Stan Laurel Inn at Ulverston (LA12 0AB)
Swan Inn at Ulverston (LA12 7JX)
Brown Cow at Dalton-in-Furness (LA15 8LQ)

Hope this helps.