The Sun Always Shines on Cotswold Lion

Nestled deep within the Gloucestershire countryside resides Hartley Farm, where amongst a modest set of farm buildings houses Cotswold Lion Brewery. Established in 2012 by Andy Forbes, it was named after a local Sheep breed known for its distinctive golden coloured wool. Initially operating from a grain store within a farm, they moved to its present location in 2021. Two years ago, Forbes retired and sold the brewery to Dan Powell, incidentally the grandchild of the Head Brewer from the former Stroud Brewery which closed in 1967. Powell subsequently employed Don Burgess as Head Brewer, overseeing the daily operations of the brewery. Burgess was introduced to Powell via a mutual friend who knew him from a previous brewery; tiring of long commutes, the prospect of working at a ‘shire’ brewery appealed to him, he notes “the concept of a solar powered brewery using local resources and barley from malt produced on the farm really ticked the right boxes!” Burgess has over 30 years’ experience in the brewing industry and was an early champion of sustainable brewing practices and the use of local organic/ fairtrade ingredients through his former brewery Freeminer, so in retrospect he is a perfect fit for Cotswold Lion. 

 

They run on a sustainable production model, powering the equipment via solar panels while using wood-chip biofuel to heat the buildings. Burgess explains “we have almost 50KW of solar power on the roof of one of the farm buildings providing power, it is enough to boil a 10 BBL copper, and to heat our process water in the Hot Liquor Tank as a way of storing electric power as energy for use in the process, we also recover heat exchanger water after the wort chill. The heated water tank is used to heat the HLT via a plate heat exchanger, we refer to the heat store as “The battery”, not all batteries store electricity!” As well as being good for the environment, there is a financial incentive as well to consider, he adds “sustainable production means an improved bottom line, less environmental impact, reduced use of natural resources, being aware, and taking measures to reduce energy use, recover heat energy, and offset CO2 production in the face of rapidly increasing climate change benefits everyone.” The focus at Cotswold Lion is on local ingredients, the malt is sourced from barley directly grown on the farm, which is then processed at Warminster Maltings; while the hops derive from hop growers based within the Three Counties (Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire) and their water comes from the Seven Springs, notably one of the sources of the River Thames. While the brewing industry is generally obsessed with using imported hops, Burgess champions the use and potential of English hops, “I have always felt that UK hops showed huge potential due to their unique terroir and variety, and due to the hop development program at Charles Faram, there are new flavours and aromas appearing year on year from our own shore.” While he has used American and New Zealand hops in the past, he notes they come with a big carbon footprint, so it makes ecological sense to utilize often overlooked yet excellent legacy heritage hop varieties available on his doorstep, which in turn is beneficial to local hop growers and suppliers.

 

Burgess takes a dim view on the preponderance of brewers who tend to produce bigger, stronger and hoppier beers, infused with all manner of adjuncts, Burgess contends there is much scope for brewers to innovate with traditional English styles, made to a premium quality and a sensible price. “Taking traditional styles and reinterpreting them with modern innovations in hops and in production has enabled huge leaps in quality and presentation without leaning towards the theoretical made flesh.” This is reflected in the roster of traditional English style beers Cotswold Lion produces through its core-range, from the likes of Shepherd’s Delight (3.6%) a light hoppy pale ale, to the session bitter, Top Notch (4%) and stronger examples like Golden Fleece (4.4%) a Golden IPA, and their ESB, Top Tup (4.8%). Since Burgess joined the brewery, their beers have been sold in various pubs around Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds. Notably last July, Golden Fleece was available on draught at Jeremy Clarkson’s pub The Farmer’s Dog in Burford; and later that Autumn the brewery started to expand their cask sales outside the county to pubs in the West Midlands. Looking to the future, Burgess hopes promote the brewery further, “I am working on keeping our Facebook feeds more active, we are getting more followers as the new beer styles I have introduced at Cotswold Lion are finally coming to more recognition.” He also hopes to raise more awareness about the green credentials of the brewery from its solar powered production, to its usage of locally grown barley, hops and water. While the brewery builds traction, he ruminates “we hope to do more “Open Door” days, I have several plans up my sleeve, some interesting one-off beers are in the book of brewing, but at the moment, with our standard sales growing, it's keeping the wheels on the wagon, it's easy to over promise, keeping growth steady with quality to the fore.” Burgess notes he was very lucky to know a number of ‘old school brewers’ in his time, “I learned many tips and techniques from them, and some to avoid! I developed a style of creating the new, pushing the envelope, but keeping familiarity there to encourage the drinker to try the beers.” With his beers, he likes to generate as much novel flavour as possible, whist staying within the confines of using local ingredients, reviving heritage beer styles, and along the way giving a few new varieties a modern facelift, without needing the use of hop rockets and every fermentable adjunct under the sun.

Beer Review: Old Crafty Hen

Name: Old Crafty Hen

ABV: 6.5%

Brewery: Greene King (Morland)

Style: Strong Ale

Location: Bury St. Edmunds

Aroma: Plums, cherries, toffee, malt, oak and even a distinct of whisky is detectable with a hint of tartness that suggests it was aged in oak barrrels.

Colour: Deep ruby red with a fluffly one finger ivory coloured head. 

Flavour: An assaulting bitterness, leads off to a fruity background with hints of fruitiness swirling away in the tastebuds. The maltiness is evidently present along with a whisp of grassu jops yet it leads off to a tart underlay of oak and aged spirits that give its depth of character that leads off to a pleasing warmth that enlivens the senses. 

Verdict: The ultimate blended beer, it borrow the distinct toffee malty features that makes Old Speckled Hen with the distict sour stock ale notes that makes 5X so legendary in beer circles. It is reminicicent of Belgian sour ales like Rodenbach, and feels almost out of place as a British ale. It is a facinatingly unique strong ale that is not one to miss in a hurry.

Rating: 9/10 

The Hoppy World of Easter Ales

The origins of Easter ales date back to medieval times, when monks were ordered to fast during Lent following an edict ordered by Pope Pius V, Simmone Massenza notes “the faithful had to abstain from eating for forty days. It was, therefore, necessary to have a beer that was stronger, thicker, and more nourishing than everyday beer.”[1] Some accounts state Easter Beer was established in Germany, with the likes of Fastenbier, a smoked Rauchbier developed by monks in Bamberg, Upper Franconia in the 12th century, or Bock beer which was produced by the Paulaner monks of Bavaria (c.1600), a strong ale produced the Winter months for consumption during lent. Heather Truckenmiller notes “later, discontent with the strength of Bock style beer, monks developed an even stronger variant known as Doppelbock, meaning double Bock. This beer was so laden with nutrition that some dubbed it “liquid bread.”[2] Meanwhile in early modern England, church congregations frequently developed a Church Ale for Easter Sunday, consisting of warm, thick, dark homemade ales produced to accompany the social activities over the Easter weekend. The earliest modern commercial use of Easter Ales dates to early 20^th century Denmark which came about in response to counter the growing popularity of Doppelbocks. The Danes developed a style known as Påskebryg, a pale lager produced through top fermentation with an alcohol content between 5% - 7% typically. Beers like Tuborg Påskebryg Carl's Påske and Fynsk Forår became established names, and by the 1950’s, Massenza points out that these beers had become increasingly popular with Easter themed motifs (such as rabbits, hares, chicks, eggs, and daffodils) featuring on bottle labels. While Denmark is often considered the capital of Easter beers, in the UK meanwhile, Easter themed beers have struggled to gain traction, due to poor promotion and lack of faith among brewers to tap into this market. The lack of popularity for these beers are in stark contrast to Christmas Beers which have more or less become an established industry in the past few decades.

 

Across the home counties, there have been examples of Easter ales such as Hot XXX Buns (3.9%) – Brentwood, a session bitter infused with lemons and spices to create a taste reminiscent of Hot Cross Buns; Hoppy Bunny (4.5%) – Wantsum, which notably features a distinctly hoppy mix of Idaho 7, Citra & Mosiac hops in the traditional American IPA style; and on the stronger end of the scale Easter IPA (6.8%) –  Pope Yard, released in 2016 it was promoted as a cross between Simnel Cake and hot cross buns with aromas of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger thrown into mix giving way to a lingering spicy aftertaste. In more recent times we have seen the likes of Pure Hoppyness (3.9%) – Mighty Oak, a hoppy golden ale with a floral background, true to its name it features a multitude of hops including Columbus, Keyworth, Early Calypso, Chinook and Mount Hood; accompanied by an equally varied malt bill featuring Munich, Vienna, Pale and Marris Otter; and Easter Ale (4.5%) – Chiltern, an English pale ale (made with Jester & Godiva UK hops) which was released as part of their monthly small batch releases last year along with their Easter Amber Ale (4.5%), it was described as having notes of gooseberry, grapefruit and lychee, making it a perfectly rounded Springtime pint. While most Easter themed ales tend to be pale ales, IPA or bitter, some have bucked the trend like Thumper (3.9%) by Gipsy Hill Brewing, a chocolate stout made in collaboration with CBGB (Craft Beer, Good Banter), the craft beer Meetup group. It was first released in March 2020 as part of their Illustrator Takeover series, showcasing a series of cans featuring artwork by a set of guest illustrators; the artwork for Thumper was designed by David Biskup which features the likeliness of CBHB’s co-founder in a bunny costume. More recently, the likes of The Egg Cracker (5.1%) by Acorn attempted to recreate the flavours of an Easter egg in beer form, described as a white chocolate stout the beer was developed upon the return of brewery founder Dave Hughes who took back the brewery in late 2024 when Sonas relinquished control of the 25-barrel brewery. To celebrate the brewery’s independence, he was inspired to produce a Reboot series of beers featuring six limited edition ales. Hughes noted “while the Reboot Series brings a touch of nostalgia to revisit brews from our early days, we also promise exciting and innovative new rollouts to meet the needs of a keenly competitive market.”[3] The Egg Cracker was a new release, combining smooth vanilla notes of white chocolate with a potent roasted malt bitterness.  

 

The erstwhile Easter Bunny has been a common theme among Easter ales, from the likes of Rabbit Punch (4%) – Coach House, to Hare Brained (4%) – Loddon. Some breweries have even employed clever marketing campaigns, like Bad Rabbit (4.1%) from Church End. When it debuted in 2011, the brewery teamed up with advertising agency Ress Bradley Hepburn, portraying the Easter bunny as a thief, vandal and arsonist. They mentioned in their blurb the easter bunny is not bringing chocolate eggs he's bringing chaos and a damn good ale. An RBH representative stated “if he dishes out eggs, it's only to distract you while he nicks your wallet, makes off with your plasma screen and does something unspeakable on your daffodils.”[4] While the beer is a traditional deep-brown session bitter, it featured burnt malt overtones and a hop heavy flavour profile featuring Mosaic and Amarillo hops sourced from Charles Faram based in Malvern, who supply hops from all over the world. In 2022, Wild Beer Co. released One a Penny (5%), described as a New Zealand IPA without the hops, combining the distinctive flavours from a hot cross bun, by adding raisins, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and vanilla during the brewing process. The brewery caused quite a stir in the local press at the time with this release, co-founder Andrew Cooper told reporters “at the Wild Beer Co. we love to get creative with our flavour combinations and produce beers that pair harmoniously with and are inspired by food.” During the development of this beer, he reportedly sampled 15 different hot cross buns, in order to understand the bready sweet flavours and complex spices; as a means of reflecting the flavour of hot cross buns accurately in the beer. The same year, brewing giant Badger (Hall & Woodhouse) cashed in on the Easter market with their Hop Cross Bun (4.2%), a bitter combining spices, rich fruit notes and bready notes with a varied malt bill of Amber, Crystal, Munich and Caramalt, they dubbed it a real taste of Easter with not a bunny in sight. While the beer was sold in cask at selected Hall & Woodhouse pubs during the Easter Weekend, the following year they also produced a bottled version in partnership with Sainsbury’s through their Taste the Difference range. Youtuber and prolific beer reviewer Simon Martin from Real Ale Craft Beer described it at the time as having a creamy mouthfeel, a distinct hot cross bun flavour with citrus, nutmeg and a peppery spiciness on the backend.[5]  

 

While most Easter themed beers tend be stuck in the endless doom loop of limited releases and are eventually forgotten about. Some have bucked the trend and have reappeared on an annual basis, like Bad Rabbit (4.1%) – Church End since 2011, Hoppy Bunny (4.5%) – Wantsum since 2018 and Rabbit Punch (4%) – Coach House since 2022 respectively. For several years since 2014, Great Newsome treaded the boards with their seasonal number Hops in Spring (4.5%), it was markedly their first IPA made with a 100% English hops including Admiral and Northdown for bittering, and Progress for aroma, an underused hop first commercially grown in the 1960’s. While the beer has the conventional notes of citrus fruits commonly associated with this style, it was billed as a celebration of the diverse range of English hops. In more recent years, Easter Ale (5.6%) – Harvey’s has gradually established itself as a major player of the Easter beer front. It was first released in April 2021 to mark the reopening of pubs following lockdown, the beer directly takes its influence from monastic brewing when strong ales marked major feast days, they claimed that after the six-week Lenten Fast, monks brewed a feisty ‘Easter Ale’ to celebrate, though this evidence is spurious at best. In the fine tradition of Easter Ales, it was originally produced to a higher ABV of 6.5% before it was reduced a few years back, and unusually for an Easter Ale, it is also sold in bottle and is available in the latter all year round. This beer has won a slew of awards from Gold at the Beer Bottler’s Institute Competition 2024 and the same year it won Silver in the Pale Ale category at the World Beer Awards and last year it gained a Bronze at the International Beer Challenge; thus, proving the potential for British based Easter Beers to attract global recognition. The success of Harvey's Easter Ale (5.6%) shows their potential for locally UK produced Easter ales to go beyond the cottage industry of limited edition and locally distributed releases, and gain wider recognition. While Easter beers may never gain the lofty status of their Christmas forebears, through good promotion and ingenuity, these beers may have more of a chance of success, rather than being just a flash in the pan after-thought by the marketing department.

List of references 

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[1] ‘Toasting Easter, with a beer!’ by Simmone Massenza, Vinhood

[2] ‘Bock - The Traditional Easter Beer’ by Heather Truckenmiller, 9^th April 2020, Valley Girl Views

[3] ‘Acorn Brewery founder returns to bring new lease of life’, The Brewer’s Journal, 25^th November 2024

[4] ‘Church End Brewery turns to a bad rabbit for Easter ale’, The Drum, 12^th April 2011

[5] ‘Sainsbury's Hop Cross Bun Ale Review | Sainsbury's Craft Beer Review’, Real Ale Craft Beer, 20^th March 2023

Beer Review: Blue Monkey BG Sips

Name: BG Sips

ABV: 4%

Brewery: Blue Monkey

Style: Pale Ale

Location: Nottingham, Notts

Aroma: A burst of tropical fruits, mainly mango, pineapple and lychee are present, accompanied by distinct hints of Brewers Golds hops with honey and woody notes.

Colour: Light gold with a fluffy two finger ivory coloured head.

Taste: A grassy hoppiness dominates, counterbalanced with hints of lemon, pine and a gentle tartness. The bitterness is present, without being overpowering. Their is a mild hint of spice, that is common with the hop variety, giving off a slight edge with every sip. The mouthfeel is smooth and creamy, contributing towards its clean, easy drinking nature.

Verdict: A light beer that doesn't pack many punches, hops are in the driving seat here, making up for much of the flavours. It is a uniquely British take on the pale ale, though the only thing lacking is more depth to the malt. Ideally suited for a Summers day, it easy to see it taking on the lager market. This is a true definition of a session beer, since a number of these could sipped in a session, if you pardon the pun.

Rating: 6/10

Chiswick Bitter, We Hardly Knew Thee

Fuller's brewery has the admirable accolade of winning Supreme Champion Beer of Britain at GBBF for three different beers in their range, a feat unsurpassed by any other brewery. ESB (5.5%) first claimed the gong back in 1978 (and again in 81” and 85” respectively), later joined by London Pride (4.1%) the following year and Chiswick Bitter (3.5%) a decade later in 1989. Yet while the likes of ESB and London Pride continue to be sold regularly in cask and bottle, alas Chiswick Bitter has fallen from grace and largely disappeared since it was discontinued from regular production a decade ago. It was first produced in 1930, named after the area where the brewery is based. A fresh and flowery session ale, it was brewed with Northdown and Challenger hops, with extra Goldings hops added to the conditioning tank after fermentation for added flavours and aromas, a practise more commonly known as dry hopping, a technique that has been around incredibly as far back as the 17th century, where brewers would add extra hops to their casks in order to extend their shelf life, far removed from its modern resurgence among craft brewers where beers are often overloaded with additional hops for added hoppy and zesty flavours. The late Martyn Cornell once described Chiswick Bitter as a modern take on the lost art of light mild. In his book Amber, Gold and Black, he explains “mild is Britain’s most misunderstood beer. Originally the main, indeed, the only standard for a beer called mild was that it should be fresh, not more than a couple of weeks old, and have the taste and aroma that come with freshness.”[1] Mild he adds is merely a description rather than a style, there were many sub-varieties ranging from mild porter, light bitter, scotch mild, burton mild, extra strong mild and mild stout (which eventually evolved into milk stout), rather than the more commonly associated term with dark milds which have only become prevalent since the mid-20th century. Normally milds were generally lower hopped because of their higher turnover, yet Josh Weikert notes that not all milds followed the same strict practises, stating “at times, milds were also heavily hopped. Yet as bitters became more popular, “mild” also became a way to differentiate between “bitter” bitters and “mild” bitters.” [2] Chiswick Bitter was synonymous with this style of mild bitter (light mild), and while the prevalence for this style dwindled after the 1950’s as the popularity for bitter overtook it, Fuller's continued to produce this beer regardless for decades to come.

 

When former head brewer John Keeling joined the brewery in 1981 as a junior brewer. He noted “in those days we racked three main brands: ESB, London Pride and Chiswick Bitter. ESB and Pride were available in barrels (288 pints), kilderkins (144 pints) and firkins (72 pints), Chiswick was in kilderkins and firkins only.”[3] The latter we could assume was due its shorter shelf-life, but its lack of popularity among publicans was likely a reason for its lower output. All three beers were sold at most of their 120 tied pubs in their estate at the time, though some only sold two, it’s easy to guess which one was omitted. At GBBF 1989, Chiswick Bitter won the standard bitters category and would subsequently outmanoeuvre the likes of Old Peculier (5.6%) and Landlord (4.3%) for the coveted prize of Supreme Champion Beer of Britian; at the time it’s win was considered a surprise given the lack of pubs that sold the beer at the time. In 1999, the brewery refined the production of this beer, so it settled more compactly in order to produce a more consistent and better tasting product. By 2008, due to concerns from publicans over its slowness in turning bright, the beer was adjusted further with the 'hop regime' changed to Challenger, Goldings, Northdown and Target varieties, with additional dry hopping to the casks, as a result Fuller's reported a double digit growth in sales of the product. Along with cask, the beer was also sold in bottle form, writing in 2011 blogger Sam Cohen notes “this is a hoppy, low strength bitter. The overwhelming character of this beer comes from the hop, which is very strong in aroma, with only moderate bittering.”[4] The beer continued to scoop up awards including Silver Medal (Standard Bitter) at the Battersea Beer Festival and the runner up prize at the Castle Rock beer awards in 2015. Following a successful first run in the US, in 2014 the beer was distributed and sold in draught across the country (alongside other Fuller's favourites ESB and London Pride), the brewery’s US brand manager Charles Stanley stated this initiative was due to the increasing popularity of full flavoured session beers in the country. Regarding the likes of Chiswick Bitter, he noted “Fuller’s has been brewing and refining Chiswick Bitter for decades, so this release is a great opportunity for American bars and restaurants to provide their patrons with session beer at its finest.”[5] Alas, on the homefront cask sales for Chiswick Bitter were steadily declining due to changes in public tastes and increased competition from other session ales, more beer was being wasted as a result. In the end, Fuller's had to take decisive action and in October 2015 the brewery posted the grim announcement that the beer would be pulled from their regular core range and would subsequently be produced on a seasonal basis. The brewery claimed that this was due to the increasing popularity of Seafarers Ale (3.6%), a holdover from Gale’s brewery which they poached a decade before. Chiswick Bitter was reduced to the lowly status of a limited seasonal release, eventually it quietly dissappeared from circulation entirely. With the increasing popularity of lower ABV beers in recent times, in the summer of 2024 the brewery released Griffin Gold (3.5%), it was promoted as having a crisp bitterness, complemented by a burst of citrus and pine, making it the ideal libation for Summer days. Roger Protz described it at the time as being a modern revision of Chiswick Bitter; however it was brewed with American Cascade, Citra and Hallertau Tradition hops, so in reality it is closer to the hop-forward beers pumped full of tropical citrussy new world flavours that have dominated the market. Meanwhile the demand for the revival of Chiswick Bitter quickly gathered pace as fans of the beer instigated a social media campaign to instigate its return. Eventually, Fuller's relented and in May 2024 the brewery made an announcement that the beer would be returning in bottle form for a limited period. After a succesful relaunch, in December that year the brewery decided to add Chiswick Bitter back to its core range, albeit available in bottle only. In recent years the demand for lower strength beer has been gaining momentum, as health concious punters increasingly shunned stronger beers for sessionable alternatives, markedly low and non alcohol beers have become the fastest growing beer-category. On the back of this, breweries have gradually flooded the market with lower strength beers, and by the beginning of 2024, 87% of pubs were reportedly selling a low/non alcohol beer, of which 8% was sold in draught. Moreover it has been recently reported that drinkers are flocking back to traditional styles like Bitter and Mild as cask ale is experiencing a revival. And since Fuller's already has an established brand in the face of Chiswick Bitter, perhaps the time is rife for them to rerelease it in cask form and take advantage of this increasingly lucrative market. 

List of references

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[1] ‘Amber, Gold and Black’ by Martyn Cornell, The London Press, 2011, pg.23

[2] ‘Why We’re Wild for Mild’ by Josh Weikert, Beer and Brewing, 6^th May 2024

[3] ‘Dear John - Where now for cask?’ by John Keeling, Brewer’s Journal, 18^th December 2023

[4] ‘Chiswick Bitter – Fullers’ by Sam Cohen, Sam’s Brews, 8^th January 2011

[5] ‘Fuller’s Re-releases Chiswick Bitter on Draught in the US’, The Full Pint, 24^th February 2014

Beer Review: Vale Black Beauty

 Name: Black Beauty

ABV: 4.4%

Brewery: Vale

Style: Porter

Location: Brill, Buckinghamshire

Aroma: A flurry of dark-roast coffee, burnt toast, charcoal, roasted malt and liquoriche. 

Colour: Dark ruby, some light bleeds into beer, with a one finger cream coloured head.

Taste: Profound coffee bitterness is immedietely apparent, followed along with a bed of treacle for added substance. The varied malt bill (consisting of Pale Planet, Crystal, Munich, Chocolate, Brown) gives it added character. There is a touch of smokiness in the background, along with some notes, while the hops give off fruity elements and a warming aftertaste, mainly from the addition of Goldings hops in the brew. The creamy mouthfeel helps brings it all together, leaving it smooth and thoroughly drinkable.

Verdict: A quaffable, moreish beer that evokes the very best elements of the London porter style, with potent coffee bitterness dominates, there is a mellow chocolaty sweetness that helps offset some of the force. The varied range of malts help give the beer is distinctive character with the hops add to the flavour elements. A great all-rounder and a stirling example of the brewer's craft.

Rating: 9/10