The nose is similar to the Leeds Best, but certainly more floral and yeasty. The yeasty smell was hard to pick out at first as the floral hop aroma fills the air but the more you smell, the more you notice the strong undercurrent of yeast. Onto the taste and the mouthfeel is lively and fresh with flowers dancing all over my tongue. There’s a massive fresh hop zing and a beautiful mellow citrus taste which leaves you wanting more. It’s even slightly appley – hops and fruit all the way which makes for a wonderfully refreshing beer. I don’t know which hops are used in this particular beer but I’m willing to wager the presence of some Challengers in there. The yeast is back on the aftertaste with the beer tasting fresh and ‘new’ – just how I like it.

It’s very rare that you get a bottle conditioned ale which tastes as though it’s fresh from the barrel but the Leeds beers I’ve tasted have been delightfully consistent. Fresh, light, hoppy, and very, very drinkable. Mark – you can send me more of these any time you like!!

I like to throw myself in at the deep end, so my first beer review on the blog is of a beer that I suspect most of you won’t have heard of. Concrete Cow Brewery are based in nearby Milton Keynes and their beer range, although fairly small, is of a consistently high quality.

I was fortunate enough to take a tour of the brewery earlier this year, where I met Concrete Cow’s owner and head brewer, Dan Bonner. Dan left his high-paying accountancy job to start the brewery in August 2007 with his only experience being, in his own words, ‘one or two disastrous homebrews twenty-odd years ago’. It really doesn’t show, though. I was amazed at the quality of the beers Dan brews at the brewery and have been a big fan of his beers ever since. I haven’t, however, ever had one of his bottle conditioned ales. This is a first for you and me both.

The bottle is simple, yet catchy, and sits nicely in theme with the rest of Concrete Cow’s BCA labels. The label describes the tale behind the Fenny Popper, stating: ‘Since about 1770 the six small ceremonial cast iron cannons known as the Fenny Poppers have been fired each St. Martin’s Day and on other national occasions at Fenny Stratford, Milton Keynes. A new set were cast in 1859 after one of the originals exploded causing a fire… almost destroying a nearby pub.

Right, on to the beer.

The brew comes in at 4.0% ABV and the aroma direct from the bottle is a distinctively bitter hop one. The condition of the beer is slightly cloudy, despite having settled for a day and a half, but I suspect I may have chilled it slightly below the recommended temperature, so I’ll call that one my fault. Aroma from the glass is even hoppier and fuller than that from the bottle with the hops also very evident in mouthfeel. Even without physically tasting the beer, the hops are definitely very prominent.

Immediate taste, surprisingly, has the hops subsiding and letting the rest of the flavours through. There’s a distinctive citrus note that comes through, which then merges into more of a grapefruit touch. Grapefruit? I know where this is going… Yep – the hops are back and in full force as the finish gives us a long, lingering bitterness. The experience reminds me very much of one of my favourite light ales – Dark Star American Pale – and that’s a good thing to say the least. As the aftertaste subsides my mouth is left dry but certainly not in any negative way. It leaves me wanting more, more, more.

The really exciting thing, for me, is that one of you lucky Beer Swap participants is going to be the lucky recipient of a bottle of Fenny Popper as I’ve selected it as one of my beers. I’m not allowed to say who the fortunate recipient is, but he or she is a very lucky man or woman indeed!

Essentially, each participant in the Beer Swap scheme sends their name and address to the organisers (Andy Mogg – @chilliupnorth and Mark Dredge – @markdredge) who then assign each beer swapper a partner. The idea is that the participants then select four local and interesting beers to send to their swap partner. The result is that we all get to try a range of new bottled beers which we otherwise may not have been able to have done.

I think I’m going to use Chiltern Brewery (Aylesbury), Tring (Tring), and Concrete Cow (Milton Keynes) as my local beers. With a bit of luck I may even be able to get some bottles from Banks & Taylor (Shefford) or White Park (Cranfield).

Overall, it promises to be an excellent scheme and I look forward to receiving my first Beer Swap package! If you’re interested in participating, you need to read the instructions and apply before 6pm today, Monday 26th October. Good luck!