The Sainsbury's Great British Beer Hunt Review Topic

[RobWalker]

It's on! All £1.50 at Sainsbury's stores across the country. The regions are the regional finalists, the top 3 sellers from that region will go into a final judging, and the two winners will be sold for at least 6 months. Review the beers you buy in this topic :

Full list;

SCOTLAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND

Barney's Brew - Hilden Brewery
Gonny no brew that - Wiliams Bros Brewing Co
The Honey Thief - Wiliams Bros Brewing Co
Hipsway - Wiliams Bros Brewing Co
Wayfarer IPA - Orkney Brewery

NORTH

American Pride - Double Maxim Beer Co
Crafty Dan - Thwaites Brewery
Infra Red - Hardknott UK LTD
Swedish Blonde - Double Maxim Beer Co
Windermere Pale - Hawkshead Brewery

WEST

Devon Dreamer - Hunters Brewery
Gower Gold - Gower brewery company ltd
Harbour IPA - Harbour Brewing Co
Harbour Porter No.6 - Harbour Brewing Co
Serendipity - Bird's Brewery

EAST

B Bok - Batemans
Black Pepper Ale - Batemans
Reindeer Droppings - Ridgeway Brewing
Querkus - Ridgeway Brewing
Lavender Honey - WBC (T/A Wolf Brewery)

Last night -

Rideway Brewing Querkus - amazing peated/smoked porter, aged on chunks of oak. Wonderfully rich, big creamy head and a slgihtly sweet but mature rounded flavour, a body and flavour that in no way shape or form could have been created by anyone other than a seriously experienced brewer. Really really loved this one. get it!

Hardknott Infrared - a really cool IPA. Unlike a lot of IPAs it has a belgian yeast smell instead of a hoppy smell, the beer is deep red and resiny with awesome head retention, but too rich for more than one! Grab a bottle, it's fantastic.

Wiliams Bros Brewing Co "Gonny No Brew That!" - Lovely session pale ale at a modest 3.8%, just a little tropical citrus on the nose and palate and doesn't suffer the same fate as some similar beers of being too dry and bodiless and too stingy on the aroma hops. A great all rounder, I could drink it all night. Would love to see it on the shelves for good!

Wolf Brewery "Lavender Honey" - Relatively standard goldings honey ale with a tiny pinch of lavender flavour that can't really be tasted after the first mouthful. Not a great beer, certainly not up with Fuller's HoneyDew, but it's good to have a honey ale every now and then to get a taste of the region, if you catch me drift. Plus I guess there arn't many lavender ales on the market! So I enjoyed it regardless, but wouldn't have it again.

Havn't had the Bock yet, but I hear bad things. It's 6% and 500ml for £1.50 though :lol:

 

[godfrey]

nothing from the south in the full list :wha:

nice review, thanks !

 

[RobWalker]

yeah it's weird. bird's is down the road from me too, it's midlands :wha:

 

[morethanworts]

Having grown up in Lincolnshire, I was never that impressed with the usual blue or red Batemans. It always tasted like beer I could easily have made myself, without being any good at it.

That said, I got given a boxed, limited release 7.5% vintage ale of theirs for xmas, which I put aside for my son to have on his 18th in 2025 ('Best Before 2030'). It might be OK by then.

Will be interested to hear about (or try) the B bock.

 

[iceo]

Having grown up in Lincolnshire, I was never that impressed with the usual blue or red Batemans. It always tasted like beer I could easily have made myself, without being any good at it.

That said, I got given a boxed, limited release 7.5% vintage ale of theirs for xmas, which I put aside for my son to have on his 18th in 2025 ('Best Before 2030'). It might be OK by then.

Will be interested to hear about (or try) the B bock.

im the same i find batemans stuff abit on the thin side. tho the black pepper might be worth a look

 

[JimmyB78]

Completely agree on the 'gonna no brew that', a lovely beer that I could happily drink all night.

Tried the Swedish blonde which wasn't anything amazing bu very drinkable. Also the hilden Barneys brew which was pretty good.

Have most of the rest queued up ready to try.

 

[pswillies]

Found the Crafty Dan to be surprisingly good... really fruity.

Off to try the Harbour IPA in a minute. :drink:

 

[dennisking]

Had to go into Sainsbury's to buy the wife a birthday card. Walked around the shop 3 times before I found the beers, sorry cards. :whistle:

 

[godfrey]

no beer hunt in my local :-(

but I got this one :-)

made with single hop "earlybird"

 

[Runwell-Steve]

Had to go into Sainsbury's to buy the wife a birthday card. Walked around the shop 3 times before I found the beers, sorry cards. :whistle:

They are near the front, almost next to the cards, how could you miss them :grin:

 

[dennisking]

Had to go into Sainsbury's to buy the wife a birthday card. Walked around the shop 3 times before I found the beers, sorry cards. :whistle:

They are near the front, almost next to the cards, how could you miss them :grin:

I know, for some reason I went to the beer section :wha: the signs there said the beer hunt beers were in the seasonal aisle. Now being a man supermarkets are not in my comfort zone so why take the beers from the one area of the shop I am comfortable with and stick them at the other end of the shop leaving a vulnerable man to walk around, on his own trying to find beer. I think it's a ploy to make you buy more when you find them, it worked.

 

[godfrey]

Had to go into Sainsbury's to buy the wife a birthday card. Walked around the shop 3 times before I found the beers, sorry cards. :whistle:

They are near the front, almost next to the cards, how could you miss them :grin:

I know, for some reason I went to the beer section :wha: the signs there said the beer hunt beers were in the seasonal aisle. Now being a man supermarkets are not in my comfort zone so why take the beers from the one area of the shop I am comfortable with and stick them at the other end of the shop leaving a vulnerable man to walk around, on his own trying to find beer. I think it's a ploy to make you buy more when you find them, it worked.

didn't work for me

I got the Kentish ale for 50p more (3 for £5)
and I am glad I did, bloody lovely :thumb:

 

[RobWalker]

Had the B Bock last night, not bad considering the bad reviews...sorta like a fizzy strong mild (I realise that's a paradox) a little caramel flavour and only bittering hops. Not great, but not bad! :

 

[Dave1970]

So glad you said about it being in the Seasonal aisle, I too had foolishly gone straight to the beer section.

Called in tonight, found there more than just the ones for my region, and went a bit mad in my excitement...came away with 20 bottles. 2 each of the ones I really fancy and one each of a few others

I'm dieting and not drinking in the week at moment so it'll take me a while but I'll add reviews to this post. Not tonight though as I 'have' to break the weekday drinking ban to get the yeast from some Old Rosie.

Beers

American Pride IPA - Double Maxim.

Hipsway - Williams Bros.

The Honey Thief - Williams Bros.

Serendipity - Birds Brewery

Reindeer Droppings - Ridgeway

Querkus - Ridgeway

BBock - Batemans

Black Pepper - Batemans (looking forward to this- I like loads of pepper on food so can't wait to try it in beer)

Barney's Brew 'Belfast Bap Wheat Beer' - Hildens

InfraRed IPA- Hardknot (this one looks like a Punk IPA type hop-bomb)

H IPA - Harbour Brewing Co.

Crafty Dan - Thwaites

 

[dennisking]

Just drinking the Thwaites crafty Dan. Big citrus hop flavour, becoming the norm these days it seems.

 

[Rhys]

Thanks to guidance here finally found the Great British Beer Hunt Beers, odd marketing by Sainsbury. I could find no reference on their website. Finallynfound a media press release on the J Sainsbury corporate website. Not sure how their regional categories are set up.
Ridgeway. Brewery is in Oxfordshire, which Sainsbury seems to think is in the East suppose it is if you are in Dublin. :-)
So despite the half baked marketing at £1.50 a bottle compared with their usual offerings at £1.99 I have bought:
Querkus - Smoked Oak Porter - Ridgeway, Oxfordshire. Brewery run by ex Henley Brewery guy
Lavender Honey - Wolf Brewery
American Pride - Maxim Brewery
Hipsway - Williams Bros
Gonny No Brew That - Williams Bros
Pale Ale - Marstons

And finally Barneys Brew - Hilden Brewing Co.
Allegedly a "Belfast Bap Wheat Beer" although i couldn't taste or see much wheat, just enough to give a rather odd crystal clear light beer ( to my palette) a good head.

I'm looking forward to tasting the others and at £1.50 it's good to see some smaller breweries getting seen in a large supermarket however poorly advertised.

 

[RobWalker]

Had the American Pride and Gower Gold tonight. neither are impressive. doh!

 

[dennisking]

Just finished a bottle of Maxim American pride, OK not brilliant.

 

[gitsurfer]

Stumbled across this promotion last night while doing the weekly shop. We've overspent a little this month, though, so it'll have to wait for next week when we've been paid. Interesting to hear the various opinions here, which will give me food (or rather drink) for thought in the meantime. Will definitely be trying the smoked porter.

 

[dennisking]

Drank the Hipsway last night, is it me or are all these mega hop beers starting to taste the same. :hmm: