5's

Just a quick entry this time... There might be a few of these when I drink down my local - The Magpie and Crown, Brentford. I feel my review of my local boozer wouldn't be very objective, so I'll just drop reviews of the beers I get to try here. It should be a fair few as the Maggie has 6 hand pumps, 5 of which serving very frequently changing offerings from micro breweries near and far, and a nice English, Belgian and German bottled beer selection to boot.

So the first for today is Darkstar's Festival, 5.0%. Visually this brightly polished darker brown ale is is mouth watering. The aroma alludes to this with its clean sweet roasted malts. The head is tight, creamy and off white.

Initially the carbonation and taste are good, but gentle and with a light mouthfeel - very clean. But this beer soon opens up and flows with a tsunami of complexity - marzipan, almonds, hazelnuts. Then a wave, this time dark soft fruits, finally a lingering swell of well balanced hoppy and dark malt bitterness. It's only at this stage that you might question the abv as the fruity alcohol flavour parries with the hop bitterness. Certainly recommended, perhaps more suited in colder months though.

Next on the bar is Binghams Space Hoppy IPA, 5.0%.

Very bright and an inviting light amber colour, with a loose white head. The strong and pleasant aroma is of light floral and citrus hops (perhaps some astringency, but it doesn't actually seem out of place..) and with a decent biscuit backing.

The superb carbonation and silky mouthfeel open up to a powerful and surprisingly grassy flavour that makes way for a strong rolling apricot punch - the bow of the hop wave that soon washes through, leaving your mouth dry and satisfied. An incredibly drinkable beer for a 5.0%er! Very impressed with this beer...and the two more that I had!

I've had a few beers from Binghams, but for some reason I was apprehensive to have this beer. Perhaps a bad experience with one before...or just a loose connection in my brain. Either way I'll certainly be on the lookout for more Binghams beers.

The brewery itself is a 10bbl plant in Berkshire, setup in November 2010. In that time they have netted a host of awards, including Gold for this very beer at SIBA South East Competition in the Strong Bitters Category.

If you would like to buy some of their beers, you can find the online shop here:

http://shop.binghams.co.uk/

Cheers,

Josh Walker