Whilst stocking up on beer at my local Booths in Knutsford - if you live in or south of Manchesterⁱ then your local Booths too, is Knutsford - I found a party pack of Ulverston beers.   I'd seen them before but the hefty price tag had put me off.   This time I was determined to try them as I am a big fan of the Ulverston brewery beers.

Ulverston are one of the breweries that has good quality control over their bottled beers, even though they must contract out their bottling.   The give away is usually the bottle label - a waxed finish or metalic details usually means someone has taken the extra effort with the bottling process too.   A papery unfinished label usually means a high chance of an oxidised or infected beer - or just a substandard ale.

The party pack isn't called that as such, but with 5 bottles of smashing beer & a pint glass you've got all you need for a good night.   Celebration Aleⁱ, Flying Elephants & What The Dickens are the beers I hadn't tried before  and Lonesome Pine & Laughing Gravy were old favourites.

Celebration Ale (3.9%) - named after the unveiling of the Stan Laurel statue in Ulverston - is a blonde ale, with a dryish, grainy flavour & a strong Goldings-like hoppiness.   A good blonde ale.

Flying Elephants (3.8%) - named like most of their beers after a Laurel & Hardy reference - A pale blonde ale with a Cascadeⁱ-like citrussy hoppy flavour, soft tasting & with a little sweet malt.   An excellent session beer.

What The Dickens (4.0%) - named after the annual Dickens festival in Ulverston - A brown beer with a malty-toffee like sweetness, but still a citrussy-like hop flavour.   Good bitterness in the aftertaste.

For details on Lonesome Pine & Laughing Gravy, just click on the links.