Bath Ales Barnstormer

Over the bank holiday weekend I escaped from London and headed out Bath, a town steeped in history which pre-dates the Romans. After a morning exploring the Roman Baths and an afternoon relaxing in the new thermal pools, it was time for a beer. Being a Sunday, most of the inter sting pubs were closed and after a couple of false starts (read quiet and quaint on the outside, disco boombox on the inside) we finally settled on a cosy little pub with a student like feel called "The Porter". This pub was slightly alternative and only sold vegetarian food, not really a problem as I had eaten anyway but the best part was the pub was serving up local beer. Upon inspecting the pumps I decided to go for a pint of Barnstormer (4.5% abv) from Bath Ales. Barnstormer is a fruity dark ales, which roughly falls under the style of Porter, but only just and that is a very loose interpretation. By taste it is very much a bitter, however it does have some chocolate roastiness. A well balanced and satisfying ale!

Bath Ales are actually not located in Bath itself but in Warmley, Bristol just a short hop west of Bath. Since commencing operations in 1995, the brewery has slowly expanded and commenced distribution to major supermarkets UK wide after setting up a bottling facility in 2007. You can find out more about Bath Ales, and Barnstormer in particular at this website.