Having started out on a tiny one barrel brew kit (producing only four casks of ale per brew), Brass Castle made a name for themselves in the local area with their rich, sweet vanilla porter Bad Kitty, and this beer, their India Pale Ale Sunshine.

Last year saw the brewery take the top prize at CAMRA’s York Beer Festival and SIBA’s North East regional competition with Sunshine. Part of this is almost certainly due to the fact that all its ales are vegan friendly – not fining or filtering the cask beer means the ale remains slightly hazy with flavourful hop particles, although of course some fantastic brewing probably does most of the legwork. Pouring copper with brass highlights, gentle carbonation creating only a slight head. The aroma is bready yeast, nettle tea, pine, and parma violets. Lemon and lime accents provide some bright notes, underlined by earthy tea and bergamot.

Peppery malt, with a medium sweetness and rich caramel that develops into a warming lemon and honey. Tangerines come to the fore, followed by a spicy blend of pine and grass, with a touch of peach drying out the palate. No wonder it’s has people coming back for more.

Recommended by Michael Bates, Trembling Madness, 48 Stonegate, York

VAN Ecke's witbier is nothing like other traditional wits you might have drunk before; gone are the coriander and orange peel.

This beer was first brewed in 1981 to celebrate the proud hop-growing culture of Flanders.

Intensely hopped, aromatic, and brewed to a hearty 7.5 per cent, Hommelbier gets its name from its native region's crop, and the bees that help pollinate the farmers' crops.

Hommelbier pours a glowing tangerine, under a voluminous, creamy white head. The aroma is sweet candyfloss, cloves and bananas like many other wits, but there's an edge of papaya and marzipan, coupled with a fragrant woodiness that just isn't there in its competitors.

Medium to full bodied, with a sprightly carbonation, this beer demonstrates just how luscious noble hops can be: there are peaches and pecan nuts playing on a background of vanilla, with a creamy porridge backing from the wheat.

Strong fruity esters provide further interest, banana-bread and almonds round out the finish with a substantial hop bitterness and a slight alcohol warmth.

For those who are game, I'd strongly recommend drinking this wit with the sediment, or at least some of it, in the beer; don't worry, it won't upset your tummy, it's only yeast.

Adding these critters in to the mix intensifies the wheaty nuttiness of the beer, but also adds a satisfying salty bitterness that acts as an excellent foil for the sweeter, fruitier aspects of this brew.

Recommended by Michael Bates, Trembling Madness, 48 Stonegate, York

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We've actually had the Oskar Blues cans in for longer than the Founders I reviewed, so I feel a bit mean not giving them any attention.

So here we are: Dale's Pale Ale is a 6.5 per cent hoppy American Pale credited with helping to establish craft beer in a can as 'a thing'. Not only are the cans smaller and more efficient for distribution, cutting down on greenhouse emissions as a result of their smaller size, but they also have several benefits regarding beer flavour.

Unlike bottles, there is no potential for light damage, especially perilous for a hop-forward ale like this one, but they are also much more resistant to oxygen ingress – where bottles can go stale over time, especially at room temperature, cans will not. Awesome stuff indeed.

Pouring brassy orange, the initial aroma is of tangerines, with rose overtones, and a more earthy pine and dried apple scent becoming apparent as it settles and opens up. The flavour is led by a punchy bergamot and lemon zest hit, backed up by a fragrant almond note and a very clean, refreshing malt bill.

Only a touch of caramel sweetness shows through this beer before being overcome by a well-balanced, nutty bitterness that throws out some grapefruit and orange zest before an ultra-refreshing clean finish.
A fantastic pale ale that hides its strength well; be cautious with this one, it might well lure you in before you know it.

Recommended by Michael Bates, Trembling Madness, 48 Stonegate, York, YO1 8AS

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QUITE often when I’m in the mood for a hoppy beer, it can be tough to find to get the fix I’m after without accidentally drinking a beer in the 7 per cent plus bracket.

It’s tough, I know, but Founders brewery of Grand Rapids, Michigan, appear to have come up with the solution.

The concept behind this beer is to give the intensely aromatic, refreshing hoppiness of an American style India Pale Ale without necessarily clubbing the drinker, or their tastebuds, senseless.

In other words, it’s an American pale ale, but All Day IPA at a much more sessionable strength than most, making it ideal now that Spring has apparently sprung.

Pouring a brilliant copper, a tight white head unfolds with a delightful, heady aroma of passion fruit, lychee, and tangerine peel. Light bodied, crisp and clean, the malt only comes through as a touch of initial sweetness, and a brief flash of burnt toffee before fading beneath a blanket of juicy late-hopping.

A gentle peppery bitterness lays the groundwork for subtle spice and pine to play across, a sappy sharpness cuts through, and a little mango rounds out the finish. A crisp and moreish American pale ale, perfect for those long days in the sun we probably won’t get for another few months.


We’ve stocked up on cans and bottles though, just in case, and if you make the pilgrimage we’ve got a few kegs too so you can enjoy this classic pale ale on draught too.

Recommended by Michael Bates, Trembling Madness, 48 Stonegate, York, YO1