Beers Enjoyed Between February And April 2026.

Bank Top Flat Cap  Beer Clip

Beers Enjoyed In February 2026 x9

Due to a health crisis, with my stoma being strangulated by the hernia it generated, (including a week long hospital stay and narrowly avoided surgery), I found alcohol was bloating my stomach and making me ill so I went teetotal for the latter half of March and the first three weeks of April, returning to beer consumption at the end of April. This reduced the numbder of ales I was able to sample and review for these months.

Anspach & Hobday – London Black 4.4% *** Nitro-porter with chocolate fortunately muting the additiona coffee element, making a beer that I might normally dislike much more palatable. If I liked coffee this might have had a higher rating though. Canned.

Cervezas Victoria 1928 – Victoria Malaga  4.8% **** A very crisp Spanish keg lager, popular in restaurants and tapas bars.Keg – El Rincon De Rafa, City Centre, Manchester

Dorset Brewing Company – Jurassic 4.2% **** A fine fruity flavoured copper coloured malt and hops ale that retains its head well. Real ale – Moon Under Water (Wetherspoon’s) City Centre, Manchester

Pride Of Pendle Beer Clip

People’s Captain – Clubhouse 4% ***** A very pleasing traditional benchmark brown ale, for which many of the profits go to charity. Real ale – The Bank, City Centre, Manchester

Rooster’s Brewing – Scoundrel 4.2% ***** Fine session ale stout that I was happy to quaff all night. Real ale – Vinyl Tap, Ashton, Preston.

Thirsty Moose – Canny Canuck 4.5% ***** Maple brown ale and a firm favourite, which I drank several of over the month through recurring visits to the serving pub. Real ale – Vinyl Tap, Ashton, Preston.

Thornbridge – Cocoa Wonderland 6.8% *** Chocolate Porter Tastes more of coffee than cocoa or dark chocolate, and didn’t seem as strong as it actually is. Canned.

Thornbridge – Kill Your Darlings 5% ***** Viennese lager. A very dark lager at that too, richly malty and quick to drink. Canned.

Hop Vine Sixfold Beer Clip

Thornbridge – Ouroborus 8.4% ***** A very strong fruity IPA, tastes heavy and an ale to respect. Canned.

Beers Enjoyed In March 2026 x10

For health reasons, namely due to serious blockage to my stoma due to complications with my two hernias, I temporarily went teetotal from mid-March to mid-April 2026, so the lists are lean compared to what they might usually have been.

This list includes beers supped by myself at the Wigan Beer Festival on the 7^th March.

Bang The Elephant – Banana In The Tailpipe 5% ***** Banana and chocolate in the same beer. What’s not to love? Crazy combo that works like a dream. Real ale – Wigan Beer Festival 2026.

Brass Castle – Black Mill 4.3% **** Standard, benchmark Yorkshire stout, nice and chocolaty, but served a little chilled, unlike other festival ales. Real ale – Wigan Beer Festival 2026.

Colbier – Nocturne 4.5% ***** Delicious oatmeal stout, rich & Moorish with a dash of orange. Real ale – Wigan Beer Festival 2026.

Nocturne  Beer Clip

George Shaw – Tenpenny 4.5% **** Multi-hopped and multi-malted giving quite a strong stark bitter old ale flavour. Real ale – Wigan Beer Festival 2026.

Nightjar – Donkey Oaty 4.2% ***** Has my favourite name for any of the festival beers, punning Don Quixote, the Cervantes novel. An unfiltered barley ale with just a touch of blackcurrant too. Real ale – Wigan Beer Festival 2026.

North Riding – Choc & Nut Porter 4.2% ***** The most chocolaty of all chocolate flavoured ale, and you can really taste the cocoa here. Real ale – Wigan Beer Festival 2026.

North Riding – Toffee Porter 4.5% ***** An easy glide down the throat – one of the best session ale strength porters around. Real ale – Vinyl Tap, Ashton, Preston.

Ridge Brew – Empire Stone Blonde 3.9% **** Decent pale, hoppy, heavily citrused, not bad but probably only worth having when no other choices are on offer. Real ale – Vinyl Tap, Ashton, Preston.

Wigan Brewhouse - The Night  Beer Clip

Serious – Matmos 6.4% ***** Probably named after the essence of evil in the film Barbarella, this was the strongest beer I had at the festival, a Belgian Dubbel. Thick, rick sweet tasting, possibly with molasses. Sadly way past session ale strength. Real ale – Wigan Beer Festival 2026.

Wigan Brewhouse – The Night 5% **** Malt-hops combo and tastes quite light / gentle for its strength being on the session/strong ale cusp. Real ale – Wigan Beer Festival 2026.

Wily Fox – Dublin Up 4.5% 3.5% *** An Irish stout spoilt by coffee infusions that drown out the promised hoppiness. Real ale – Wigan Beer Festival 2026.

Beers Enjoyed In April 2026 x10

Bank Top – Flat Cap – 4% ***** Golden coloured traditional bitter – quite a fine benchmark tipple. Real Ale Ralph’s Wife’s Coffee & Bar – Hesketh Banks

Bank Top – Harlequin 4% **** A traditional try your best to taste Northern no nonsense ale slightly nonsensed with a dash of citrus. Real ale – Hesket Arms, Rufford

Bank Top Harlequin  Beer Clip

Hope Vine Brewery – Best Bitter 3.5% *** Brewed at the sister bar, Hope Vine, which was my previous pub on the Bus To The Pub crawl event, so perhaps my expectations of similar quality marred my perspective, but this still a fine quality ale, light and hoppy. Real ale – Legh Arms Mere Brow

Hope Vine Brewery – VI – Sixfold 4.2% ***** Brewed on site, using six blended malts, hence the name. A fine ale that has a very traditional outcome. Real ale – Hop Vine – Burscough

Moorhouses – Pride Of Pendle 4.1% **** Moorhouse’s Pendle Witch may be my favourite ale ever, so their other beers always mildly disappoint for not quite gaining an edge on it. That’s not to say this is bad at all, in in=ts copper colouring and dry finish. Real ale – The Vestry, Tarlatan.

North Riding Brewery Bakewell Tart 5.5% ***** A stout that doesn’t tsaste anything like its namesake cake, but still tastes great, which is what matters. A rich, malty strong stout. Real ale - The Guild Ale House, City Centre, Preston.

Ossett – Butterfly 3.7% **** A traditional Yorkshire bitter, nicely presented. Dark golden-light copper in colour, decent quality quaff. Real ale – Vinyl Tap, Ashton, Preston.

Robinson’s Old Tom 8.5% **** Legendary strong ale often served strictly in half pint glasses only in the pubs, though the bottled version available in many supermarkets is just short of a pint in quantity per-serving. A rich, dark ale that is well worth enjoying. This marked my return to drinking after my month long self-imposed prohibition. I figured that if my guts can cope with a beer of this magnitude it can handle anything. I was right. Bottled Beer.

3 B's Doffcocker  Beer Clip

Salopian – Vortex 4% ** Over-citrussed and a bit of a struggle to get through. I gave up after about one and a half pints. Real ale – Vinyl Tap, Ashton, Preston.

Three B’s (3 B’s) Brewery. Doffcocker – 4.5% ***** A light coloured pale ale with a fine enduring hread and tastes of tradition. Real ale – The Hive – Hesketh Banks

Previously quaffed.

Hen Harrier  Beer Clip

Bowland Brewery – Hen Harrier 4% *** Popular citrused golden ale, nice to have again until it sadly ran out at a friend’s birthday party. Real ale – BAA/EE Club, Penwortham, Preston.

Arthur Chappell