Crafty Dan 13 Guns American IPA (5.5%) - Thwaites Brewery, Lancashire, England

Barely a week has passed since my craft-beer-in-a-cannie virginity was taken and I can't help but go back for more, this time from another English brewery that's embraced the craft beer drinking community's new-found appreciation for cans, a brewery that's not only remained a family brewery for two hundred years, but has caught up with recent craft beer trends with astonishing nimbleness, whilst at the same time retaining its heritage with its core range of classic, traditional ales. It's managed this by opening a craft microbrewery in 2011, giving rise to its Crafty Dan range, one beer from which I took a particularly close look at.

Lancashire within England

The refined looking can design pictures a cannon with six cannonballs, perhaps representing each blast you can expect from the whopping six hops used. With a new trend for extravagant artwork taking hold, I like to think of Thwaites' more understated approach as a statement of another kind, a sophisticated bucking of the trend.

The beer pours a gorgeous dark amber with an off-white head that settles to a perfectly compact, puffy cushion.

The intense hit of hops promised on the can is delivered as soon as your nose swoops in, with resinous pine and tropical mango aromas presenting an unmistakable New World character.

One swig brings another big wash of juicy pine and mango flavours, joined by some citrusy lemon and lime notes, as well as grapefruit to add some bitterness, balanced by an undercurrent of caramel biscuit sweetness. The contrasting qualities of six intense hops with four kinds of malt make for a rich and complex flavour that at the same time remains astonishingly balanced and highly quaffable.

Full-bodied and well-rounded with a medium-dry finish, 13 Guns is fresh, intense, fruity and clean. At the same time it delivers on big New World flavours but opts for sophistication over brashness, being in-your-face yet staying effortlessly classy, keeping the measured character of a beer whose recipe tastes like it's been devised with extreme precision. Crafty Dan has proven to be one masterful son of a gun.

Appearance: 5/5
Aroma: 4.5/5
Flavour: 5/5
Mouthfeel: 4/5
Overall rating: 9/10

Thwaites Brewery
Web: http://danielthwaites.co.uk
Twitter: @Daniel_Thwaites
Facebook: CraftyDanMicro

Cwtch (4.6%) - Tiny Rebel Brewing Co, Newport, Wales

Tiny Rebel, founded in 2012, is among the newer breweries that have shown their gusto for the recent craft beer revolution by sporting outlandish and original label designs like the dark-humoured, psychedelic one on Cwtch (which is pronounced /kʊtʃ/ and is a Welsh word that means "cuddle", something the neglected teddy bear that seems to have lost his way in life pictured on the bottle is in severe need of).

Described as a "Welsh red ale" on the bottle, Cwtch pours more of a brown-amber colour, but held up to the light it can be seen glowing in all its ruby-red glory. A small, off-white head fizzles gently until it settles to a thin layer, but grows a good finger-width high once the glass is swirled around in preparation for some whiffing action.

The aroma is a pungent one packed full of bold New World hops, with citrusy and tropical characteristics of pine and mango. If you sniff around for long enough, which I tend to do to my beers like a deranged dog hoping to find one last treat, some crystal malts start to ooze through as well.

Monmouthshire within Wales

The juicy pine and mango hop flavours are just as bold on the tongue, met with an equally bold caramel malt backing, both working together like two different coloured cans of spray paint let loose to create a harmonious work of art on an unsuspecting urban wall. 

Despite the flavour frenzy that takes place in your mouth, Cwtch manages to stay extremely drinkable, dare I say moreish, with a thick, juicy mouthfeel leading to a long, dry finish tipping in favour of bitterness and an aftertaste just a fraction too stale for my palate. This is a rebellious brew indeed, reminiscent of an IPA but calling itself a WRA (Welsh red ale) and gives a whole new, even more exciting meaning to the sentence "Gimme a cwtch". 

Iechyd da!*

Appearance 3.5/5

Aroma 4.5/5

Flavour 4/5

Mouthfeel 3.5/5

Overall 7.5/10

*Cheers