I just love experimenting with these blonde/pale ales. Every supermarket let's you buy either any 3 or any 3 from a selection for just a fiver. It's a wine lover's dream. So pungently flavoured and creamily texured. Every one a delight.

Marston's EPA is only 3.6% and is all cream and hoppy caramel and at Tesco it's 3 for £4.

The problem is though that I am starting to find even the lightest wines rich and alchoholic. I had 2 glasses of Rose Anjou yesterday. RA is a beginner's wine. 10.5% alc and sweetish. This time last year I could have got well into a second bottle before noticing that I had drunk anything but now 2 glasses and i'm feeling headachy.

Cava I can cope with and there are some nice ones out there but still wines are a battle.

I think I will slowly buld up a nice collection of the very best sb and drink only when the mood really takes me.

Hi G,
Marston's have been very faithful to English brewing, and have now expanded their operations to include these other breweries that were flagging due to taxation and imports:
Banks’s Brewery in Wolverhampton
Marston’s Brewery in Burton upon Trent
Jennings Brewery in the Lake District
Ringwood Brewery in Hampshire
Wychwood Brewery in Oxfordshire.

If you like a beer with a lovely creamy, hoppy and caramel flavour, I can recommend Marston's Pedigree. not too alcoholic, not too spicy, dark and heavy. Pedigree is thirst quenching, just as a beer should be.

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Duncan

Two of my favourite real ales...





I enjoy Pedigree now and then, its a simple, satisfying ale, a dependable fallback if there is nothing better on offer. Abbot ale can be superb if cellared correctly and served at its best.

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Yep, Im still here.

Long while since I've had a few proper pints. The first one doesn't touch the sides and I'm not allowed much more...bah !

Draught Abbot was one of my favourites (tho' it's hard to find round here).

The other was only available in one pub but I loved it.

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Four wheels move the body - 2 wheels move the soul.

What do you all think of the pale ales. Too much like lager ?. I had a Greene King IPA Gold last night. Just £1 per bottle at Sainsbury at the moment. A very definite taste of jasmine. Astonishingly subtle but precise.

I had a Badger Poacher's Choice the other day. Dark and rich with a liquerish taste. I didn't fall but I wobbled. Pale/blonde ales for me. Pedigree looks like one I might like.

A real ale board , Mel ?

Goose, hunt down a pint/bottle of Titanic Iceberg, well chilled its a light but fuller flavoured wheat beer, a cracking summer drink, I think you will like this. The brewery is based in Stoke on Trent, I suspect there wont be many pubs down your way with it on tap but I have seen bottles in Waitrose/Ocado. Look for local craft beer festivals.

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Yep, Im still here.

This is a cracking pub on the kennet / avon towpath where canal, river and railway meet and pass over / under each other.
They had a strong draught ale called Tanglefoot (I think). A large notice behind the bar said 'drink 7 pints - get one free'. Never managed it...

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Four wheels move the body - 2 wheels move the soul.

You can Tanglefoot in bottles from Tesco & others, its a Badger beer I believe.

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Yep, Im still here.

Tanglefoot, yes, Badger and a pale ale to boot. How have I missed that one. I can't wait to see how cask ales compare to bottled. Bottled lager is skunky ( as beer drinkers would say ), no match for the cask or the can but bottled ale is very tasty. The cask will do well to beat it.

I will seek, find and sink a Titanic Iceberg.

Owned by Hall & Woodhouse. Stable mate (without the steroids) to Hoppy Hare.

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Four wheels move the body - 2 wheels move the soul.

Hmmmmm....fascinating. Marston's Pedigree is proper ale lite. By that I mean that it's quite rich and malty just not as rich as a dark ale. But it has little in the way of aromatics.

Try a Hopping Hare, MrD to compare the hare* to the Pedigree. I think you may find HH a bit confected. I don't mean sugary, just a bit ott on the hoppy caramel.

I love it but I wonder how natural the flavour is.

g
* If you saw a meerkat would you punch it in the face

Badger Tangle Foot is pleasant enough but Hopping Hare is hops ahead.

Badger Hopping Hare
Greene King IPA Gold
Marston's EPA

My three lovely favs.

I usually go for...

Ruddles County
Bishop's (Middle) Finger
Theakston Old Peculiar (no comments please)
London Pride
Abbotts
OSH

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Four wheels move the body - 2 wheels move the soul.