First post, and a couple of beers

Evening all.

This is going to be a new venture for me, in which I write about whatever nonsense is rattling around inside my skull at any given moment, although you should expect beer, technology and books to feature on a regular basis.

Part of the inspiration for this is simply because this gives me somewhere to write reviews on the various beers I've managed to sample. This also means that I then have a list I can go back to, so I can remember what beers I've actually tried (useful when I'm at a beer festival)

So, to start off this endeavour, I have two beers to share: Innis & Gunn's Winter Beer, and Ebulum from the Williams Brothers Brewery. There are many others which I've already tried, but this simply gives me an excuse to go back and revisit them :-)

Innis & Gunn's Winter Beer
Innis & Gunn have been producing fine oak-aged beer since 2003, and this is a relatively new beer, from the Winter of 2010.
Pouring, its a deep amber colour, and produces a good head, more so than their original beer, which fades relatively quickly. The nose is almost woody, with hints of vanilla and toffee, although a butter-rich toffee.
Taste-wise, it has a deep, almost fruity flavour. The malt sweetness comes through, with the toffee and vanilla hinted at before coming through strongly. Its a pleasantly warming beer, and I would not have an issue drinking a few of these on a cold winter's evening.

Williams Brothers Brewery's Ebulum
Williams Brothers are based in Alloa, and produce several different beers. They have a range of historical beers, produced from seaweed, heather and other traditional ingredients. Ebulum uses elerberries, on a black ale base.

Pouring, it truly is black - it looks more like a stout, and keeps a small, almost creamy head while drinking.

On the nose, it's very malty. Hardly any of the fruit come through, although there is a hint of sweetness.

At first when you drink, you get a fruity sweetness, although this is cut through almost instantly by the malt, leaving a pleasantly bitter flavour.

Not something I could drink a lot of, or on a regular basis, but rather nice as something different.