Stocklinch Ales

Last night myself and most of the usual suspects went to visit a newly opened micro-brewery in the village of Stocklinch just outside of Ilminster.
It was started earlier this year by Kevin Jones a former builder and property developer after the building trade had declined. He had been brewing on a small scale for years and had refined his craft by working with the Town Mill Brewery in nearby Lyme Regis for the past two years.
When Manor Farm in his home village became available he saw it as an opportunity not to be missed and created the Stocklinch Ales Brewery.

We arrived by taxi around 7.45pm and were shown the brewing equipment before getting stuck into the ales on offer. The brewery has a license to sell beer for one week per month and tonight was the last night it was open until the end of October.
I started with a Black Smock, named after a Sedgemoor Pub that Kevin and his wife used to visit and is a dark 5% porter/stout with a nice malty aroma and a very drinkable quality. This was recently given 3rd place at the Tamworth beer festival.
I then went for a Rusty Boiler at 4.5% which was a mid brown best bitter but not an immediate favorite. The third ale on offer was Ramblers Gold at 3.7% which some of us had sampled at the recent Minehead Beer Festival.. As the name suggests its a golden ale with a light and refreshing taste.
I was disappointed that Jolly Green was off as I was looking forward to trying it but it gives us an excuse to go back again.
I tried another pint of the Black Smock before Kevin tapped a new barrel of the Rusty Boiler for us. This was much better and and tasted really good fresh from the barrel.
We ended up staying until quite late and had a very enjoyable time, Roll on the 31st October and opening time again.