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Now being sold in Arkells pubs, brewed at Stow-on-the-Wold I believe, now that is a decent pint!!

Not one that I know - will look out for it next time I am in an Arkells pub.

Had a very pleasant evening on Heavy Hooker by Plain Ales in teh British Lion in Devizes on Friday. Very dark, heavily hopped, highly recommended!

Used to cycle up to Stratford...a decent route from Swindon. In order to bypass Stow, you'd go up through Lower Slaughter, and then Lower and Upper Swell, on the road to Longborough, used to pass a fine old brewery, middle of nowhere, it was called Donnington ales but closer to Swells than Donnington or Stow...assume it's the same place.

Yes, that is the same place Reg.  out in the middle of nowhere really. There is Donnington Way walk that joins all 15 of their pubs  :pint:

Yep, I am sure you are correct Reg.  The brewery was owned by a relative of the Kingsdown Arkells, he has now passed on and I believe it was left to James Arkell - hence the connection.  I love a pint of Donnington, don't know how long they will sell it for, could knock the sales of 2B and 3B quite heavily!!!

Is it a 'proper ale' or a 'smooth'. Hoping it's the former.

Could a mod change this thread to a general ale thread? Be interesting to hear others views and tips.

Cross referencing to the comment in the Coventry thread, Tribute's a lovely ale, but doom bar's just as good.

There are loads of beer/real ale threads already.  If they got merged, we'd have a decent record.

Post some links and I'll merge them to make a thread like the films one

I'd class it as a real ale.  Agree with you about Tribute - Doom Bar and Waddys 6X are my other favourites, and when I visit family in North Yorkshire it's just got to be Black Sheep!!

Doom Bar is lovely stuff. Also quite like Arkells Summer Ale during the warmer months.

Of the more well known ales, I'm partial to a pint of London Pride.

Really enjoy a pint of London Pride, drinking it out of cans in a mini bus on the way up yesterday doesn't do it justice. That mixed with Brandy, Lager in the Casino gave me a bit of a headache for journey home. haven't tried Donnington gold but I'll keep an eye out for it.

Seen Black Sheep in the shops, what's it like? Always thought it'd be a dark one.

Anything brewed by Hook Norton brewery.

Theakston Old Peculier my all time favourite. Been drinking a lot of Wharfe Bank Best Bitter at my local lately, which is a bit more conducive to a longer session.

They have Old Hooky on in my local which is a nice pint, quite fruity.

Also got into Tribute lately, find it a bit smoother than Doom Bar.

Fullers do some really nice ales other than London Pride, Bengal Lancer a personal favourite. They also do a couple of golden ales, Honeydew and Discovery that are good in the summer.

Could go on and on, there's loads of good pints about other than the popular ones if you have a look. Ale is awesome.

I am not sure if the Summer Ale is going to be brewed this year Sam, I think that is why they are taking the Donnington Gold.

When I'm up north it's on tap, never had a take-out.  It is not dark from the barrel.

I'll give black sheep a go then, and donnie gold when I'm up the Jovial next.

Brewed in the village of Donnington just down the road from us near Broadwell

In terms of North Yorks beers, Black Sheep is very nice, but my favourite is probably Landlord from Timothy Taylors....

Beer's great :nod:

landlord is fantastic, as is copper dragon golden pippin. in fact anything by either of those breweries is guaranteed to be good. can't stand black sheep though.

I had Marston's Pedigree in the Greyhound yesterday - has long been a favourite.
Doom Bar, mentioned by a few here seems to be available almost everywhere around here nowadays - always a good choice.

Never really got a taste for most Marston's beer, nor Arkells. Doom Bar is nice, 6x and Gem for localish beers,  and in unfamiliar surroundings and faced with a choice Spitfire and Bombardier seemed OK.

I had a few pints of Wickwar Bankers Draft the other day, which was very nice. From South Gloucestershire apparently.

Yeah I was on that when they ran out of what I had the first pint of. 'Magic' something? Can't remember. Was lovely though.

Fav brewery at the moment is probably RedWillow from Macclesfield - worth trying any of their beers if you catch them on anywhere. Also Thornbridge Jaiper IPA is a classic, potent though!

Problem with Tim Taylor Landlord is that is is one of the best beers in the country on draught, but is too fizzy bottled.

I now work in the beer, wines and spirits section in Morrisons in Devizes - we have a really big ale section. Harviestoun "Bitter and Twisted" is my current favourite.

 :nod:

I always prefer bottle conditioned beers where available, lovely natural light fiz to it and much better flavour also.  :)

Pedantic prick head on, Timothy Taylor is a Keighley brew and thus is West not North York... Sorry had to say that Mrs Horlock07 is a Keighley lass and would never forgive me.

To put a northern angle on this coincidentally had a Timothy Taylor and a Golden Pippen when I was out having my tea tonight as good as ever, but some recommendations if you find yourselves up north west...

Lancashire - Lancaster Bomber always worth a go as is Wainwright both Thwaites brews.

Cumbria - if you are in the lakes cannot do better than Jennings Cumberland (the king of all beers!) or Coniston Bluebird.

Jennings Cumberland is great (and transfers ok to bottles). The Thwaites beers generally work in bottles too.

Heading to a different part of the country, I would recommend the beers being made in Pontypridd by the Otley brewery.

Bluebird does also work in bottle it can get quite a bit of sediment in it so don't shake it and let it settle but it it a lovely brew - as infact is the pub in Coniston where they brew the stuff.

For bottles ales I've found myself going very West Country lately - going with something from the ranges of:

Badger Ales - http://www.hall-woodhouse.co.uk/beers/badgerales/index.asp - They're all good but I think Blandford Flyer and Poachers Choice are my favourites;

or

Bath Ales - http://www.bathales.com/our-ales/ - Golden Hare is nice with a curry, but The Dark Side is my favourite. They even do a cider.

Sambrook's does a couple of good ales which you can find pumped out in some of the local pubs here and would recommend if ever in south London. Wandle is the light session one and Junction for the premium types. Both delicious.

Oh I forgot this lot:

http://www.sinclairbreweries.co.uk/bottles.html

If anyone ever goes to Orkney the brewery tour is worth a look and the beers are all great, but the Dark Island and Red McGregor are my favourites.

Tonight I have brought home a random sample from the supermarket shelf - I have worked 8 nights in a row and want something to help me sleep tonight having slept 6 hours earlier.

Black Sheep Riggwelter - a sweet dark beer that went down really well.

Batemans Dark Lord - another sweet dark beer going down well too, but as with all Batemans beers a bit too fizzy straight from the bottle.

Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted - not so random, my current favourite bottled beer, pale and citrussy (citrussie, citrusy, citrus?)

Green King Yardbird - a new one to me - an American Style IPA apparently wich I will try next.

Are you a regular in the British Lion Wiggy?  I think a guy I used to work with pops in there, a pompey fan.

On the odd occasion I go out the British Lion always features. Not really a regular in any pub these days, it doesn't agree with my waistline. I do know a fair few of the British Lion crowd - way too many Pompey fans in there though!

The Yardbird is a bit meh. Too hoppy and an eggy smell om opening the bottle.

I've recently become a convert to Oakham Ales Citra.

http://www.oakhamales.com/beers/citra.html

Problem is, its only available in Peterborough. Posh Red should fill his boots (provided he likes real ale of course).

I'm a big fan of Badger's current range, Golden Glory in particular. Tribute has been a long time favourite; off to Cornwall next week to stock up on a variety of St Austell's finest ales.....

If you're in Truro I can reccommend the tour of Skinner's Brewery, a short walk from Lemon Quay. They've got a fine range of ales:

http://www.skinnersbrewery.com/

Good shout! A mate of mine got invited there for a 'special' evening tasting session. Turned into a lock-in.....said the beers were nice.

Looking over the website, it's said that their Betty Stoggs was a CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain Winner. There can be a no better commendation than that! I've seen it sold in Waitrose nationally.