Happy 2009 everyone. Having trouble juggling the hours in the day....but have managed to come throu...
Happy 2009 everyone. Having trouble juggling the hours in the day....but have managed to come through with a review at long last. :)
Member since:03.08.2001
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I love to try beers I’ve never had before. I have favourites, but I tend to survey the beer pumps hoping for a strange sounding concoction, or a style of beer I particularly enjoy. Usually I opt for a stout or a mild, but generally I will also seek out darker beers. The following beer was one I had recommended to me by a friend. I hadn’t seen it before, so I was really pleased when one of my local pubs started to stock it. This tasty Cask Ale is Thwaite’s Lancaster Bomber.
Daniel Thwaite’s Brewery is based in Blackburn, Lancashire. The brewery dates back to 1807; brewing began then, but the present building was actually built in 1966. Thwaites use traditional recipes, combined with new technology, to produce a good selection of Cask Ales. In recent years the range has been reduced, but they still remain committed to brewing seasonal and regular beers. Thwaites also encourage visitors to go on tours of the brewery – there’s a museum and evening tours, which include supper and four free drinks (a bargain for £9.50 a head!).
Some Thwaite’s beers you may find (in 500ml bottles or draught) include Daniel’s Hammer (a seasonal at 5% ABV), Mild (a dark, rich regular brew at 3.3% ABV) and Good Elf (a Christmas special at 4.9%). You will find many of their beers in their 65 managed and around 390 tenanted pubs, along with over 850 Free Trade outlets. We have quite a few Thwaite’s pubs in Derbyshire, (there’s one in Chesterfield town centre too) and often see their ales cropping up in our two JD Wetherspoon’s.
Lancaster Bomber weighs in at 4.4% ABV and is one of the Thwaite’s beers that is available both bottled and as a Cask Ale. It was originally brewed by Mitchell’s Brewery but, when this Lancaster Company ceased brewing, Thwaite’s decided too resurrect one of their beers – thus Thwaite’s Lancaster Bomber appeared. Bomber was originally produced in 1994 on the 6th June to be exact), to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of D-Day. It is brewed using Goldings, Fuggles and Styrian hops, which are all grown in the UK.
Looks wise, Bomber is a rich dark reddish amber coloured beer – it actually looks a little like a traditional Irish Red Ale, (I have recently tried O’Hanlon’s Red Ale and this is not dissimilar!) but it also resembles a dark malty beer. The aroma is predominantly hoppy, but tempered by a slightly sweet malt scent. It has quite a rich texture and has a nice smooth mouth feel.
Taste wise, Bomber is rich and full of flavour. It is bitter and hoppy to begin with, but this blends with a malty, caramelly taste that is very pleasant indeed! As you savour your pint you will get a finish that is quite dry and hoppy. The bitter flavour lingers nicely in the after taste. All in all it’s a well balanced beer that is easy to enjoy.
Lancaster Bomber is a good mid-strength beer that combines its flavours well, to produce a pint that is tasty and rich. We paid around £2.00 a pint for our Lancaster Bomber in The Barrow Boy – our local Thwaite’s pub on the bottom of the Market Place in Chesterfield. I have also had it as a guest beer in The Portland Hotel (a Wetherspoon’s, also in the Market area of town) where it retailed for the standard £1.35 Guest Ale price. We also got a few bottles from our local “cut price” drinks shop for £1.20 a throw. On all the occasions I’ve tried it I found it to be a good quality beer.
…in fact, it went down bomb!
Brewery Details:
Daniel Thwaite’s Brewery PLC, PO Box 50, Star Brewery, Blackburn, Lancashire, BB1 5BU Tel: 01254 686868 www.thwaites.co.uk
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Got a little boozer of me own and we go through about 700 pints a week of the stuff, good innit ..... gotta keep the lines clean tho' as it has a life of it's own. Cath x
rosillew 15.11.2003 18:24
Ugh I don't touch this stuff, but a briliant well written op; Heatherx
carminator 15.11.2003 13:22
I'm not really into beers, but you don't realise just how many different one's there are!
Nov 12th, 2003
very helpful by (100%):
