The Green Dragon

This premium cask ale has a strong following throughout the country. Courage Directors was originally brewed exclusively for the Directors of the Alton brewery, but following public demand, the beer was made available to the public.

Tasting Notes: It is genuine premium beer, pale brown in appearance with a deep rich taste.

Fortyniner is named after the 1849 gold rush. Golden in colour and brewed to 4.9%, Ringwood has been brewing this classic beer since 1978’.

Tasting Notes: Golden brown, dry, toffee flavoured ale

XB is a rare delight, a real ale connoisseur’s masterpiece. A strong full-bodied ale with a subtle but superb blend of two types of bitter and three fruit hop varieties giving a most thirst quenching and satisfying ale. XB was first brewed in 1982 to celebrate the purchase of the Carlisle Brewery by Theakstons a few years before. Brewed always and ever in Masham, XB was designed as a tribute to the classic ‘border’ style of beer, strong in gravity, low but complex hop. It was an instant success and has remained so, winning over real ale devotees all over the UK. Always in the shadow of its more famous stable–mate, Old Peculier, XB has quietly established itself as favourite among serious cask ale enthusiasts. Its name came not from some clever marketing expert but rather based on the more prosaic features of the Masham brewery. In the days when the only way to distinguish the contents from one cask to the next was by use of one of only two wooden stamps dipped in white wash and applied to each cask, the only letters available were either an X or a B. We could have called in BX but we preferred XB!

Tasting Notes: A premium strength, ruby coloured premium bitter with a delicate Calvados aroma, and a subtle rhubarb and apple fruit flavour. The balance between bitterness and fruitiness from Bramling Cross and Fuggle hops used give XB the distinctively complex aroma, making it a beer to savour.

Tribute is an easy drinking pale ale.

Tasting Notes: Fresh, Orange, Grapefruit The zesty orange and grapefruit flavours are balanced with biscuit malt. The beer of South West sport, Tribute has high profile shirt sponsorships with Somerset and Gloucester CCCs as well as close relationships with both Football League clubs Plymouth and Exeter City. Tribute is also the Official Beer of South West Rugby and supports many rugby teams in the region with shirt sponsorships, plus it is the main sponsor of the Cornwall RFU whose teams are the current County Champions and holders of the Bill Beaumont Cup. We were also thrilled in 2015 for Tribute to be the main sponsor of Bristol Balloon Fiesta and in 2016 Tribute will again be a high profile partner of this wonderful event. All told, there is plenty to look forward to for Tribute in the coming year.