A pint of: Robinsons - Old Tom

This beer proudly proclaims to be the worlds best ale. It won the world beer awards 2009. It was first brewed by the Robinson family in 1899, cool.

The beer is very dark, almost as dark as Guinness. The beer is very bitter & like Guinness I consider this a stout. It has a strong port, almost burnt finish. I rather like it!

I was disappointed at first to discover the beer in a 330ml bottle. But after drinking it I stood up. And promptly as well as swiftly sat back down. The beer is 8.5% abv & my god did I know it. So thats why it's in a small bottle then. A pint would floor a horse. To be fair the bottle does advise caution. I was impressed by the strength I often find very alcoholic beers are ruined & taste worse for being so strong. Not so with old Tom. I give it 9 out of 10. If you like strong beer or stouts then you'll love this beer.

A pint of: Black sheep brewery - Black sheep ale

Black sheep brewery must be one of a small number of independent breweries that produce a large amount of product. There are of course a great many micro breweries but slowly everyone seems to be getting bought up, usually by Marston's. 

This is a lovely bitter and unpretentious. There is no story of on the back of the bottle just information telling you to serve the beer at 13c. It's right that beer shouldn't be cold cold nor to hot but putting a temperature on the bottle seems a bit nit picky. Not least because how many people are going to stick a thermometer in it before drinking?

Still this is one of my favourite beers and I enjoy it every time. It's also worth checking out the website. It has some interesting info about the brewery and beers on it. One thing I particularly like that you don't see often enough is a list of  places you can buy the beer, which is just about every major supermarket and wine merchant.

The beer has won a string of awards over the years and is worthy of a 10/10 from me. There really isn't anything I can say against it. My bottle was from Sainsburys and cost £2.05.