Beers, Ales & Ciders

Our beer range is, quite simply, fantastic. It is second to none in the area, with over 300 bottled beers, including over 160 from the UK alone. We have won National Independent Beer Retailer of the Year twice! That's best beer shop in the country folks, so we're worth making a detour for! It's all on the awards bit of the website - have a butcher's by clicking here...

We have every bottled beer from the local area, many of which are bottle conditioned, plus a wide range of international offerings, unavailable in the supermarkets. If you're a hop-head, then check out our range of American craft beers - if it's O'Dells, Sierra Nevada or Stone Brewery you're after - we are the shop for you!

We have the approval of many CAMRA members, and feature in their Good Bottled Beer Guide. We are also registered by Inside Beer in the Great Beer Retailers section of their website (www.insidebeer.com)

Have a browse around our list, and if you can’t find what you want, please let us know as our ever-helpful staff may be able to source it for you. We don't have a shopping cart yet, but you can order via email or the phone, and if you live in the local area, we will deliver a case of 12 bottles or more free of charge.

Welcome back to you all after our 2 week break, ready and refreshed and full of new ideas to keep you beer fans happy. We're waiting for many of our 'Spring season' beers to arrive, but in the meantime we have a lovely beer tasting night coming up, and also new beers from some of your favourite breweries to keep you going...

Belgian V USA Beer Tasting Night - Thursday 9th February

Already great excitement over this one - the lovely Ben from James Clay specialist beer importers will be showing a fantastic range of Belgian beers and US counterparts. Hear the stories, the history and most importantly, drink the beer!!

(The event starts at 7.15pm and takes place in the shop. It will finish at approximately 9.30pm. Tickets cost £15 each and can be bought from the shop or over the phone. Please call or email for further details.)

Dunham Mass-ive!
Freshly delivered from Dunham Massey Brewery we have Chocolate Cherry Mild 3.8% (weird but lovely), Dunham Porter 5.2%, Cheshire IPA 4.7% (brilliant stuff), Stamford Bitter 4.2% (very popular when we had this on draught), and the hefty Dunham Gold 7.2% (Belgian style golden ale. Strong, pretty strong...)

Samuel Smiths Brewery
A big apology to all you Sammy fans for running out of all their beers before Christmas. I can assure you that normal service has now been resumed and our full range is happily nestling on our shelves.

Now available in stock: Pure Brewed Lager, Organic Cider, Organic Best Bitter, Oatmeal Stout, India Ale, Old Brewery Pale Ale and, new in, Imperial Stout (in 330ml bottles).

Nogne-Mania!!
Fresh from Norway we have some pretty special stuff from a near-legendary brewery. Founded in 2002 the name Nogne O comes from old Danish and means 'Naked Isle'. It's a phrase oft used by Ibsen to describe any barren or stark scenery (apparently). Well, that's your something new learned for today, so why not have a crack at one of these as a reward?

Nogne O Saison 6.5%
Belgian farmhouse-style beer. Refreshing and made for hot summer days(?), full of hops and floral notes. Recommended to drink with oysters!

Nogne O Porter 7%
A dark ale, obviously,and dark malts give flavours of coffee and dried fruit. Try with chocolate, cheese or red meats.

Nogne O Imperial Brown Ale 7.5%
Steve's personal favourite, giving it an impressive rating of 'in a fantastic class of its own.' Loads of big flavours of chocolate and caramel, raisins, baking bread and nuts. Phew!!

Nogne O Imperial Stout 9%
This is the big boy of the pack, a 9% dark rich ale packed with sweetness and roasted malt bitterness. Apparently goes with vanilla ice cream or dark chocolate! 

It's The Great Divide Brewery!

Brand new brewery to us - fresh from Denver in Colorado, and making big waves. With an impressive trophy cabinet, and named 8th Best Brewers in the World by Ratebeer, and 7th All-time Top Breweries on Planet Earth by Beer Advocate. Not so shabby! For your delictation then, we have the following selection...

Titan IPA 7.1%
Definitely one for the hop heads among you. Piney hop aromas and citrus hop flavours, finishing with a nice rich malty sweetness balanced by crisp hop bitterness. Food match with grilled halibut, Thai curry and soft cheeses. Apparently.

17th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA 10%
Based on their award-winning beer, Denver Pale Ale, this copper-hued treat is a celebration of everything Great Divide does best. Plenty of malty sweetness provides a backdrop of earthy, floral English and American hops, while French and US oak round off the edges and provide a touch of vanilla. Food match with bacon and blue cheese hamburger, barbeque ribs, blue cheese, sticky toffee pudding and caramel cheesecake. So, something for everyone there... 

Blimey - it's Buxton!

A brand new range from over the Peaks in Derbyshire. Something for everyone here, choose from:

Black Rocks 5.5% Black IPA
Boldly claiming that it's better than Thornbridge's 'Raven', this Black IPA has liquorice aromas, blackcurrant and grapefruit flavours. 

Axe Edge 6.8% Double IPA
A gold medal winning beer full of citrus, tropical fruit and peach schnapps flavours. Plenty of New Zealand Nelson Sauvin, US Citra and US Amarillo hops.

Old Big 'Ead 4.1% Session Ale
A no-nonsense malty, amber coloured session ale. Easy-drinking beer, well-balanced and full of flavour.

Kinder Sunset 5% Ruby Ale
A deep ruby-red ale. A rich and delicious malt flavour and a refreshing floral hop aroma. 

Wild Boar 5.7% IPA
A fruity and aromatic IPA using an eclectic range of hops and malts. 

Thornbridge - Come over to the Dark Side...

Raven - 6.6% Black IPA
It's the latest thing! Bitter hops, tons of maltiness. Grab it before our fast diminishing stocks run out!!

Brewdog - Limited Edition Stock!

Black Tokyo Horizon 330ml (17.2%) £16.75
A bit of a hybrid beer this one - a collaboration between 3 breweries and their best, biggest imperial stout recipes -Mikkeller's 'Black', Nogne's 'Dark Horizon' and Brewdog's Tokyo. The result is a big chocolatey stout with malty flavours and coffee and molasses on the side. Will get better and better with age.

Three Floyds Bitch Please! 330ml (12%) £7.25
Another collaboration with the Brewdog boys and the chaps at Indiana based US brewery 3Floyds. It's a mixed up barley wine, brewed with peated malt from Islay, single hops and, believe it or not, with shortbread, toffee and candy floss added to the kettle. The whole lot is then aged in a Jura whisky barrel for 8 months. Needless to say, the flavours of medicinal peat and caramel lead the way. Enj

Blueball Brewery - new bottlings!!

As if those boys at Blueball didn't have enough plates spinning, they've just bottled these new offerings:

Eine Kleine Kolsch 5.7%
Classic Kölsch (pilsner). A dry crisp beer with a honey yellow hue. All in all a perfectly refreshing drink with strong poise.

Oor Bonnie 4.3%
Scottish 80 Shilling Ale. The nose and taste are driven by the sweetness of the malt giving subtle accents of caramel with a blend of UK hops providing a rounded bitterness.

Spänk 6%
Industrial IPA. An amber colour pale ale bursting with tropical fruit and citrus aromas. A smooth beer with a dry and balanced bitterness that stimulates the senses.

St Austell - new arrivals!

Clouded Yellow (4.8%)
An award winning wheat beer, Clouded Yellow is named after a migrant butterfly found visiting the UK in the summer. Pale yellow colour and bottle conditioned, it has citrus overtones delicately flavoured with whole spices and vanilla.

Proper Job IPA (5.5%)
Brewed to a traditional IPA recipe with Cornish spring water and malt from locally grown Maris Otter barley. Light, clear and refreshing with an assertive hop bitterness.

Voted "Champion Ale" at the 2011 Quality Drinks Awards.

Great British Beer Festival 2011 Champion Bottled Beer of Britain

Southport Brewery - Guest Appearance!

Southport are making an appearance at Kingsley Beer Festival this year, so we thought we'd give you a taste of what's on offer. Choose from:

Golden Sands - 4%
A classic golden coloured bitter, triple hopped with citrus flavour. 2009 Champion Best Bitter at the Great British Beer Festival.

Cyclone - 3.8%
A bronze coloured bitter, fruity with a hint of blackcurrant - cheeky!

Old Shrimper Winter Ale - 5.5%
Available a little earlier than usual this year, this winter ale is dark, rich and fruity. Will warm those cockles!!

Thornbridge - so Versa-Tile!

The pun-tastic Thornbridge have produced new bottling 'Versa' - a 5% Weisse beer with a less than usual burnt orange colour, clove spiciness, banana and bubblegum. Terrific!

Caldera Brewing Company - Go Oregon!! 

Yet another coup - this time it's the multi-award winning Caldera Brewery from Ashland, Oregon. The first brewery in Oregon to can its beers, they are really innovative and successful.

Choose from:

Pale Ale (5.6%) A classic West coast-style pale ale with plenty plenty bitter hops with a malty backbone. 

Ashland Amber (5.4%) A good solid amber beer. Caramel and bready malt notes with citrus hop flavour courtesy of Cascade and Galena. Rather drinkable.

IPA (6.1%) American style IPA. Plenty of typical hop related flavours plus a bit more complexity - citrus, tangerine,  grapefruit, touch of honey. Again, great drinkability.

Coronado Brewing Company, California

What a gorgeous array of beers to warm the cockles of any US ex-pat. Fresh from the town of Coronado (just downtown from San Diego, I believe), these beers are truly individual and delicious.

Choose from:

Orange Avenue Wit (5.2%) (the brewery address is Orange Avenue), which is brewed with wheat, coriander, orange peel and local orange blossom honey and gives bags of flavour with every sip. 

Islander Pale Ale (IPA) (7%) Coronado has an island, after which this beer is named. Copper coloured, with an intense hop bitterness, maltiness and great complexity. 

Mermaid's Red Ale (5.7%)  Red coloured, funnily enough, medium to full bodied beer. Caramel and chocolate malts give the colour and roasted flavours, but plenty of hops stop the brew becoming too sweet. 

Idiot IPA (8.5%)  All natural IPA brewed with over 3 lbs of hope per barrel. "Watch out", they say, "this unfiltered 'San Diego IPA' has been known to reduce even the most intelligent to a blithering idiot." Obviously we support responsible drinking so wouldn't recommend this as a session beer...

OMG!! It's Maui Brewery time!!

Cast your mince pies at these little beauties, straight from the gorgeous islands of Hawaii. We have always had a 'no can' policy in the shop, but we just had to make an exception for these little fellas. 

You can choose between the Big Swell IPA, Coconut Porter, Bikini Blonde Lager, and Mana Wheat Beer. So much choice! And only limited stocks available so get a wriggle on if you want to try them before they're snapped up!

The Mighty Arrogant Stone has Landed!!

It's been a long time coming, but if you've never been insulted by a bottle of beer, here's your chance.

I'm afraid though, in all likelihood, you're not worthy. However, if you fancy your chances, we have fresh stocks of Stone Brewing Company from across the pond in that strange State of California. Be warned, modesty is not their strong suit...

They don't care if you don't like it, and frankly it's not expensive - you're too cheap...

Choose from Ruination IPA, Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale, Arrogant Bastard, (also in oaked form), Stone IPA or Stone Pale.  The phrase 'kid in an S&M sweetshop' comes to mind...

The Bruery from Orange County, Cal-if-or-ny-yay!

Check out these beasts. In all their 750ml glory, we have these pretty damn hard to come by brews.

Choose from:

Mischief - a belgian style Golden Ale, dry-hopped to add that extra oomph and complexity, and at a bit of a naughty 8.5%. Ooh, cheeky!

Saison Rue, a Belgian farmhouse style ale with, I believe, a Champagne style feel in the mouth.

Finally we have their Spring offering - Saison de Lentes - a light blonde, hoppy beer with a wild yeast character. Although still a farmhouse, it's lighter than the Saison Rue and lower in alcohol. Perfect for summer sipping!

Sierra Nevada - more new arrivals!

There's no stopping those boys from California and here are their latest seasonal offerings...

Sierra Nevada Porter (5.6%) Dark, rich, creamy headed and medium bodied. This porter is full of smooth malty caramel flavours from all those roasted barley malts. Yum!

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale (6.8%) Here it is, ready for those long winter nights. Wonderfully robust and rich, and dry-hopped for a lively bitter flavour. Perfect Christmas fodder.

Oh boy, it's Odell!!

Nestling into the chiller next to our regular boys, 5 barrel and IPA are a couple of seasonal visitors - the swifts, if you will, of the US craft beer world. Please be upstanding for....

St Lupulin (6.5%)(That's pronounced Loop-you-lin). Lupulin is the resin within the hop flower which gives this beer its distinctive flavour, and its name. Only available over the summer, you will have just enough time to get your fill before the clocks go back and you're onto the next season which is....

Isolation Ale (6%)  A winter seasonal brew. 'Ever been in a warm cozy cabin and had a secret desire to get snowed in?' They ask. This beer is brewed for just such an occasion from, ironically, malts imported from England. 

Red Rose Invasion - Moorhouse has Landed!

I'm not often pleased when a rep pops in uninvited and without an appointment - bit rude to be honest... but I was quite chuffed when the Moorhouse rep popped in with his Peter Kay accent and his full range of beers and pump clips... 

So, here they are in all their colour-co-ordinated glory...

Pendle Witches Brew - classic brew, malty and fruity.

Black Cat - Dark beer with chocolate malt flavour and a smooth hoppy finish.

Blond Witch - Rather a popular brew, blond beer and as close as you can get to lager without the bubbles..

Pride of Pendle - An award winning beer, classic blend of malt and hops.

Premier Bitter - Amber coloured session beer. Does what it says on the tin.

 Meanwhile in downtown Colorado...

 Steve in hog's heaven!