Bateman's Combined Harvest

I seem to have gone beer review crazy recently! I do do other things but drink (honest!), but at the moment I'm doing a lot of beer tasting as part of my research for CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale). This has involved going to Branch Meetings, Beer Festivals and even a Beer Tasting Course. I have all these tasting notes and I've got to put them to some use....so here is my latest offering. George Bateman & son Ltd was founded in 1874; it is a family run business that was set up by the grandfather of the present chairman. It remains a family concern, despite being faced with plans to sell the business a few years ago ~ the business had been split between ...  Read the complete review

Over the weeks that I have been writing these beer reviews on a regular basis I had come to the belief that there was an anti-competition cartel in operation. It seemed increasingly that a bottle of Buggins Brown Ale would sell for the same price in Sainsways? as it does in Tesda's. Now though one of our local supermarket chains seems to have broken the mould. We are regularly treated to a varied selection of labels - well-known and otherwise - and also great discounts on both single bottles and multi-buys. This has meant that we tend to split the family shopping between the chains (I was a dedicated Air Miles collector!!) and make one trip every fortnight ...  Read the complete review