It’s nice to see a quality local ale producer doing well.

More info can be found on on the SIBA website here

I also want to say congratulations to Brewdog for their cunning plan to boost their chances of winning, more info on that can be found here.

One of my favourites is Hambleton Stallion, It’s classed as a premium bitter and personally I think it’s one of the best bitters around. I got this one from my dad who bought a case from the brewery but they are slowly finding their way into Tesco and local beer outlets so it’s worth checking with ours, failing that you can order it direct from the brewery.

Hambleton Stallion

It looks like Nick and his team have updated the labels lately, as the one in the picture is a bit sexier than the ones on the beer I picked up from the brewery last time I was there, its all nice and shiny with rounded corners, this definitely makes it feel more like a premium beer.

The beer it’s self pours a lovely dark caramel with a lovely off white head which lasts down the glass.

The aromas are of caramel, hops, malt and a little yeast.

It has a lovely weight in your mouth, it’s not too thin or too gloopy, it’s just about right, It has a little bit of carbonation but not too much so it goes down a treat.

I could definitely taste the malt and caramel and it had a lovely hoppy bitterness there too, other than that it’s pretty simple with maybe a very slight taste of citrus somewhere too.

I would highly recommend this beer to anyone who likes a proper bitter, either on draft or in bottles, even better get your self to the brewery and try it direct.

Visit their website @ www.hambletonales.co.uk

Nick and his ale

Hambleton Ales have recently moved to a bigger brewery and invested in a new bottling plant, allowing them to bottle more of their own ales along with bottling for other companies. As a result they haven’t invested (and rightly so) in a fancy reception area or gift shop, it’s simply a room in the brewery with a small bar and some garden furniture to sit on.

Nick and his wife very kindly put on a great selection of crisps and nuts for us to nibble on while we sampled some of the ales and Nick gave us a very informative and enjoyable talk on how he got into brewing and how he got to where he is now.

The two ales on tap during the intro were Hambleton Stud (4.3%) and Hambleton Stallion (4.2%), Both were absolute crackers, both very very drinkable, with great body, great head, lovely colour and most important of all fantastic taste.

The Stud was light and fruity and very smooth, slightly malty with a nice bitter hop finish,

The Stallion was slightly darker but with the same great body, a lovely caramel hint to it with the malt and hop coming though again too.

Once we had supped a few pints, ate all the nibbles and learned some great stuff about Nick and the Brewery we headed off into where all the hard work takes place, Nick showed us around and told us all about the different malts and hops he uses and explained the bits of equipment and brewing process, he did this very well, with a good sense of humour (you need that when you have 30 odd, drunken engineers in your brewery)

Fermentation tanks

After that it was back up to the bar for a few more beers and questions (including one about what he thought of all the fuss surrounding people trying to ban funny beer names and strong beers), I even got to pull my own pint, it wasn’t great so i let Nick’s wife do the next one.

Time came for us to leave, so i nipped downstairs and bought a case of Stallion, Black Lightning and Nightmare (reviews coming soon) before we headed off to the Black horse at Ainderby Quernhow for a pie and pea supper and a few more pints, it was a fantastic little pub with  great food (and a huge menu), the steak and ale pie with home made chips really hit the spot.

It was teamed up with a pint of Hambleton Eh up lad, which was another golden ale with a hint of honey, malt and nice floral notes, again with a hoppy finish.

Next up was a Hambleton Bitter, This was the darkest beer so far, it was bitter and refreshing with some hops and possibly some berries coming though towards the end.

The final pint of the night was the Legendary Hambleton Nightmare, one of my all time favourite beers, It’s one of the best stouts i have ever had, It’s smooth ,chocolaty with strong roast malts and a lovely silky feel in your mouth.

Anwyay after that it was time for the long bus ride home, we spent most of the time chatting about the beers and how friendly and approachable nick was, oh and how we loved the tour for it’s no nonsense approach and lack of commercialism like a lot of the other breweries we visit.

Keep up the good work Nick!

Photos can be found here

or you can visit the Hambleton Ales website here

or the Black Horse Pub website here

First up were the house special king prawn spring rolls with hot chilli dip, the prawns are huge, juicy and marinated in herbs and spices then wrapped in spring roll pastry and served with a lovely sweet and hot chilli dip, i teamed these with a pint of Rudgate flaxen dane, the beer was very light and hoppy and went really well with the spicy food and rich juicy prawns.

Next up was Crispy duck breasts with vegetable, chilli and cashew sauce, i’d not had this before so was looking forward to it, the menu promised spice as it had the top chilli rating of 3 chillis. I wasn’t disappointed when it arrived, the portion was that big the rice came on a separate plate. The duck was lovely and crispy on the outside while still soft (unfortunately not pink) in the middle, the sauce was full of fire and had stacks of red and green chillis in, a great big handful of cashews and some lovely big mushrooms that had a hint of lemon grass in them. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I teamed it up wtih a pint of hambleton stud which is smooth, light and fruity with a good body and again went pretty well with the spicy Thai food and even better with the bright sunshine while we were sat outside the pub.

If you are ever in the area i strongly suggest that you call in, its a great little hidden treasure.

check out their website @ http://www.theblackwellox.co.uk