Tonight I’m round at my cousin’s having a cheap night in because of the recession and global economic crises and the rising price of rice and AAAARGH PANIC WE’RE ALL POOR!!! No doubt they’ll be on the vino and, as much as I do like the odd glass now and then, it’s a night on the ales for me. I’ve come to learn that red wine can be tremendous if you drink it in the right company, with someone you can trust to drink at the same pace as you, but if you get even slightly out of kilter with one another then an hour down the line, you’ll feel like your head weighs 20 tons while your mate will have entered into a Jagermeister-based drinking game with the neighbours.

The jazzy label honestly did make me buy it.

I’ve picked up a few bottles from Morrisons, anyway. They’re doing four bottles for £5.50 round here at the moment which ain’t so bad. First up is Greene King’s St Edmunds, a golden beer with a label that stands out a mile. I don’t know about you but the labels really do work on me, and I don’t see any point denying it. Maybe it’s because I don’t really care much what it says on the back because I like all kinds of beer, but the label says more to me while I’m looking through 50 beers on the shelf. Is that bad?

Next up I’ve got White Horse’s Wayland Smithy. Morrisons describe this as “fiery and aromatic” which is probably shorthand for really bitter and smelly, making you cock your head to one side after every gulp to figure out what the hell you’re actually drinking. Hopefully Wychwood’s Circle Master will be a bit more reliable, and the final of the four is Castle Rock’s Harvest Pale which from everything I’ve read sounds like a classic golden ale.

My usual success rate based on randomly picking beers based on their labels is 50%, so I’ll probably get a couple of really good beers tonight and a couple I could take or leave. I’d rather have it that way than be one of those gits blocking the aisles with a trolley full of Andrex while he inspects the labels through ancient reading glasses, merrily reading out loud the full list of ingredients to all and sundry.

As you may guess, I much prefer buying beer from pubs.

Castle Rock · Circle Master · Greene King · Harvest Pale · Morrisons · St Edmunds · Wayland Smithy · White Horse · Wychwood

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