Thwaites Nutty Black

Work has been insanely busy this week. The end of our corporate financial year, combined with a multinational, multi-corporation, multi-million dollar project that I am working on escalating into its final stages has left me rather stretched and tired. Thank god I have tomorrow off work! Combine this with my brother and law visiting from Australia with his girlfriend, and the in-laws flying in for Christmas and you have one flustered Timmy! To escape the carnage that is unfolding around my desk and in particular, my inbox - I decided to sneak out for half an hour and head to the oasis that is the Gunmakers.

Being silly season, it was actually quite busy at 3pm on a Thursday, with a crowd of city type's enjoying their Xmas lunch and giving the staff a hard time. I wandered in with my Andy McNabb novel under my arm anticipating a nice read. I ended up not reading my book at all, but having a pleasant chat with one of my colleagues who frequents the pub, and a couple of other regulars over a pint of Thwaites Nutty Black (3.3% abv). For those who are unprivileged in the way of Thwaites, Nutty Black is a new product - OK, well it's not new, but it is Thwaites Dark Mild rebranded. It's a nice beer, but like any beer - it is made better by the circumstance and surroundings in which it's consumed.

Anyhow, it is safe to say I am back in the office now and stealing a few precious minutes to tell you about it. Website

Thwaites Lancaster Bomber

Another "Tesco Pickup" (Yes it sounds like a bad dating scene), Thwaites Lancaster Bomber (4.4% abv) is a tasty special bitter that delivers on what it promises.

The beer is dark amber in colour and is the standard Thwaites cask offering which competes against the likes of London Pride, Doom Bar, Adnams Bitter, ...you get the picture.

The beer is nice, but its a cricketer's beer, so for this reason and this reason alone I am not going to praise it. If its good for Freddy Flintoff, then I don't want to know about it!

A little about the brewery: Thwaites was founded in 1807 and now has over 450 pubs in the North of England. The brewery is gradually shifting away from cask ales into pasteurised keg beers, especially those powered by nitro.

http://www.thwaites.co.uk/