Alaskan Winter Ale
80The piney additions enhance rather than dominate this sound, dark copper-coloured ale.

Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale
80A full and satisfying strong brown ale, made in part with caramelised brown sugar. Perhaps a touch too strong for its own good: the alcohol detracts a little from the complex dark malt character.

Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale
76A complex beer, packing contrasting, intriguing flavours, but perhaps a little too strong for its own good.

Exmoor Ales Brewery Beast
78The front label describes Exmoor Beast simply as a ‘strong ale', but when you read the small print on the reverse, its origins in the porter style are made clear.

Fuller's 1845
73Not the most complex sample I've tasted of this successful, deep amber/reddish beer, which can age beautifully to become even more malty-dry and sherry like.

Fuller's Golden Pride
81A very well-balanced and smooth barley wine, the brewery-conditioned brother of Fuller's bottle-conditioned Vintage Ale.

Haand Bryggeriet Odin's Tipple
69A potent, near-black beer from an enterprising Norwegian microbrewery, with enough warmth to keep out a polar winter.

Hook Norton Twelve Days
78An attractive ruby ale with a chocolate orange character.

Kiuchi Hitachino Nest XH (Extra High)

Meantime Winter Time
80A new, bottle-conditioned creation not far removed from the same brewery's Chocolate and Coffee beers (see porters section). Flavour packed but perhaps just a touch cloying in places.

Oakham Hawse Buckler
Aroma of grapefruit and toffee. Clean and uncompromising. Dry palate with plenty of cocoa and coffee

Robinson's Old Tom
80A complex and fascinating, award-winning red ale in an attractive new, chunkier bottle.

Theakston Old Peculier
78A delightfully mellow yet complex old ale, but lacks the full character of the cask conditioned version.

Thwaites Flying Shuttle

Unibroue Unibroue 17

Williams Brothers 80/-
79A well-rounded, ruby ale, a welcomingly autumnal beer in both colour and taste.

Wood's Christmas Cracker
73A bottle-conditioned beer that seemed a touch young. Another month in the bottle may have helped round off the coarser alcohol notes.