Added: Monday, April 13th 2026
Spring has sprung and there are some fine beers to celebrate the new season.
First out of the starting blocks is an old Scottish favourite now made available nationwide. Belhaven Black Stout (4.2%) comes from the brewery in Dunbar close to the English border and 20 miles from Edinburgh.
Dating from 1719, it’s Scotland’s oldest working brewery and is now owned by Greene King. The stout is on sale in 440ml cans in 1,000 Lidl stores throughout the country.
The beer has a rich roasted malt character with chocolate and coffee notes. The chocolate notes continue into the finish with a good balance of roasted grain and spicy hops.
Hall & Woodhouse in Blandford Forum in Dorset is another brewery with a long history. It was founded in 1777, is still family owned and will celebrate 200 years of brewing in 2027.
It’s famous for its Badger beers including Fursty Ferret and Tanglefoot. It has now launched a new bottled ale, Iron Hart (5.2%), a strong pale ale brewed with extra pale and Amarillo and Cascade hops.
It has a powerful aroma and palate of honeyed malt and citrus and tropical fruit with a long and bitter finish. The beer is the result of market research by H&W that shows that drinkers, especially younger ones, are looking for beers with greater flavour that comes from higher ABVs.
Iron Hart will not be hard to find as it’s on sale in branches of Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.
Siren Craft Brew in Finchampstead, Berkshire, is a craft brewery with a strong reputation for its innovation with many beers that are aged in wood. It came to national attention in 2018 when it won CAMRA’s prestigious Champion Beer of Britain award with Chocolate Breakfast Stout.
Its spring time offerings include two pale ales. Zestiny Mandarin Pale Ale (5%) is brewed with Amarillo, Citra and Eclipse hops and offers a hazy gold colour with stone fruit and citrus on aroma and palate, balanced by honeyed malt with a bittersweet finish.
Lucky Number Superstitious IPA (7%) is an anniversary India Pale Ale brewed using Idaho 7 hops. The strong beer is a storehouse of rich sappy malt and tropical stone fruits. It’s a fine sipping beer for a warm day.
Two further beers are both anniversary ales. Shattered Mirror is a powerful 9.1% imperial stout and celebrates the brewery’s 15th beer. It’s a blend of two earlier imperial stouts, Shattered Dream and Black Mirror.
It has rich and rounded flavours of cacao, roasted coffee, toasted coconut and vanilla and has been aged in rum barrels. It’s unfiltered and unfined.
Maiden 2025 is a 12% barley wine that has been aged by passing through a variety of oak casks, including wine and spirit barrels. The finished beer is amazingly complex with oak, yeast and rich fruit and malt. Approach with caution and hide the car keys.
