I love to drink beer in the county where it's brewed. I love to find a pub near the brewery and enjoy their beer on its home territory. And so here's a brewer I've sampled in Manchester and Sheffield but never in their Somerset homeland. Not odd, though, given that I've never been to Somerset.
My introduction to Moor Brewing came though odd casks at CAMRA festivals and found them all to be, well, average brown British bittery beers. The brewer fell off my radar until a few years ago when I picked up a few of their bottles from beermerchants; the branding grabbed my attention as it was so much bolder, more confident - as were the beers. Step forward Justin Hawke, a new broom brewing up stuff that brought more than a little of his native West Coast USA flavour to the West Country.
Tracking down casks of Moor up here in the Midlands is tricky; a real shame as I've still got a taste for some of their sessionable beers. I've also got a taste for their 9% JJJ IPA but that results in a short, messy session. There's only one thing for it - I need to find me a Somerset pub and drink Moor beer all the live-long day. Sounds like an ideal summer weekend to me. I wonder if there's Moor beer on the bar at Somerset Cricket Club?
Why try? Classic styles re-invigorated; contemporary styles mastered.
What to look for? Quaffers on cask like Revival and Peat Porter; sippers in the bottle such as JJJ IPA and Old Freddie Walker.
Where to buy? Errr, Somerset is your best bet. If anyone can recommend somewhere there, please let me know. Meanwhile, you can always buy bottles from beermerchants.
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Christmas. Tis the season to be jolly. And buy beer. Here's a round-up of the choicest beery offerings from my favourite online sellers.
Beermerchants have a panoply of mixed cases on offer. Their Belgian Beer Lover's case features solid stuff such as Palm, Chimay Rouge and Brugse Zot. A luxury case offers delights such as Boon Marriage Parfait, La Chouffe and Orval. And the Berry Christmas case has fruit-forward beers including Boon Framboise, Fruli Strawberry and Rodenbach Grand Cru.
They also have a rather nifty Chimay presentation tin that crams in a bottle each of red, white and blue plus a glass. And because it's in a tin, it's easy to wrap. Result!
If you're looking to treat yourself, the Connoisseurs case offers some of the finest rare UK brews like Moor Fusion, Kernel Imperial Stout and Hardknott Infra Red alongside "best of the best" of world beers such as Lost Abbey's Gift of the Magi. And there's always their ever-impressive range of rare beers from Denmark and the United States - bear in mind that some of those American brews can't even be bought in some states over there so to have them on sale in the UK is a real coup.
The guys at myBrewerytap have a great mixed case with plenty of dark beers for these cold days. Highlights for me include Dark Star Espresso (one of my favourites), Fyne Ales Highlander and a brace of dark lagers from Freedom and Brewdog. You can 'supersize' the case and add a myBrewerytap T-shirt for a fiver extra. Or why not treat someone to the full enchilada and treat them to the "52-week Beer Club" subscription?
There's also plenty of beery goodness from Manchester brewers Marble. Alongside a mixed case of their regular beers, myBrewerytap have also secured limited stocks of two specials, a US-styled IPA and a stout, both in 75cl bottles with cork closures.
Beers Of Europe have their usual range of specially selected cases, along with a Christmas mix including the likes of Hoggleys Frosty Ferret, Batemans Rosey Nosey and Shepherd Neame Christmas Ale. They have lots of other goodies on their gargantuan shelves - some that caught my eye include the Adnams Handcrafted Ales range and some superb De Molen beers such as Rasputin.
And there's a couple of great-looking gift packs over at Ales By Mail. One's from Meantime including what for me are two of the best large bottled beers on sale in the UK right now - London Porter and IPA - along with two stemmed Meantime glasses. A great way to drink in the New Year!
The other is from Moor, featuring a branded glass, T-shirt and a 660ml bottle of beer - and you get to choose which colour t-shirt and which bottle of beer from the impressive Moor range..
And Ales By Mail are obviously full of Christmas spirit already as they've offered up one of those Moor packs as a festive prize. Just head over to their Facebook page, 'like' it and let them know which beers you'd like to be drinking this Christmas. I'm sure they'll find some way of choosing a worthy winner!
Obvious disclaimer - I'm a grateful recipient of occasional free beer from beermerchants and myBrewerytap. I also like to buy beer from them - yes, Blogger Actually Buys Beer Shocker.
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