Best Bitter

Brewery: St Peter's

Brewer's Description: "A traditional best bitter ae brewed with Pale and Crystal malts and Goldings aroma hops. The result is a full-bodied ale with distinctive fruity caramel notes. Brewed with skill and patience in one of Britain's finest small breweries."

Alc: 3.7% vol

Overall Rating: 8/10

Uniqueness: 6/10

Refreshing? 7/10

Should you try it? Yes.

I should add a caveat here - I rarely say "no" to this question. I have never (I mean literally never) tried an ale that I later regretted. Try them all! The real measure is how emphatically it gets a "yes".

Let's tackle this head on. I may embarrass myself by saying this and will probably make some readers very annoyed. Here it goes: a lot of beers taste the same. I know. I can picture you now, slamming your Oktoberfest beer mug down in protest, and probably sloshing beer all over your laptop keyboard (sorry). But seriously, it's a bit like wine tasting. I like beer, I really do, but I am not a sophisticated beer taster and my beer vocabulary is limited.

With that in mind, this beer is a best bitter and as such is not far different from others of a similar strength and colour. But I would say the St Peter's is one of the very best. It has an interesting taste, worth savouring, but not too dark or bitter. This is a really great brewery, with several other beers well worth trying (Golden Ale and the IPA, to mention two).

To top it all off, feast your eyes on this traditional oval bottle (the design of which dates from 1770):