99 BOTTLES OF BEER
from breweries that begin with S

Salt Beer Factory, Saltaire, West Yorkshire:

• Another American pale ale, this beer takes its name not from a collision, a stock market drop, a computer failure, or a group of rhinoceroses, but from a rough fabric made of undyed yarns. It’s quite a lovely hoppy brew with that nice balance of fruit and pine. Perhaps the reason I love those flavours is because I grew up in Southern California, full of orange groves and other fruit crops, and then moved to the Evergreen State in the Pacific Northwest, with all those pine trees. I do like nature. And I do like hoppy beers.Crash (5.0% ABV -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
• This beer features Victoria Secret, Enigma, and Motueka hops andis described as tasting of passionfruit, lime, pineapple, and melon. The can is a surprisingly pleasing colour combination of milk chocolate brown with thin black geometrics. This is another cool cloudy hoppy splash to brighten up the frigid winter day. Present Shoop (6.4% ABV -- brewed in collaboration with Pomona Brew Company, Salford, Greater Manchester -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
• This is a DOH NEIPA. I understand the New England IPA, and the Double Hopped, but the O? Oh, I get it, it’s Double Dry Hopped. Anyway, that’s all the information there is on the can, along with lots of bold graffiti-style colours and the word SALT in the middle, which at first confused me. This is another beer brewed with cryo hops, specifically Cryo Citra and Cryo Simcoe, then dry-hopped with Idaho 7 and Simcoe, and more of that London Fog yeast. I’m sipping this as I’m finishing reading a present-day dystopian novel, Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam. Considering we’re living in a hopefully only temporary pandemic-caused dystopia, I guess I decided to escape into something slightly more dystopian. I know how to have a good time, and Ripe Times seems to work well with it.Ripe Times (6.5% ABV -- Brewed in collaboration with Magic Rock Brewery, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
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• )This is a hazy pale brewed with an exciting partnership of Sabro, Citra, Ekuanot, Chinook, and Centennial hops. Each sip emanates a zingy velvety hops throb with slightly mango-coconut overtones. I’m not really sure where the name has come from, because I know Tupelo as the town in Mississippi where Elvis Presley was born, and also as the source of the excellent Tupelo honey. I suppose I could take a can of this with me to a park and sip it while singing to the bees and gyrating my pelvis. But as it’s raining outside I think I’ll just drink it while lounging on the couch with my book. Probably a wiser decision.Tupelo (5.5% ABV -- brewed in collaboration with Thornbridge Brewing, Derbyshire -- reviewed 23 November 2020)

Salty Walrus Brewing, Bakersfield, California:

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• After having two strong pints at a pub, Kim and I returned to the house and shared a can of this. It's got a nice taste suggestive of grapefruit and pine resin, which is always a winning combination. The name of the brewery made me wonder if there are any walruses around the Kern River. I'll have to go check that out some day.West Coast Walrus (7.0% ABV -- reviewed 25 July 2023)

Saltaire Brewery, Shipley, West Yorkshire:

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• Last month we shared a bottle of this beer which, according to the label, is made with Czech Saaz hops, pearl and caramel malts, and torrefied wheat. (When my spell checker insisted torrefied should instead be terrified, I looked up the definition and learned that torrefied wheat is wheat that has been heat treated to break the cellular structure. Whereas terrified wheat is wheat that has been traumatised -- perhaps even torrefied.) This is a pleasant pale ale, although it's not bottled conditioned so it may be somewhat burpy. It's comfortingly easy to drink with that modern spicy hops backdrop. It's a friendly blonde, not terribly witty but it gets all the jokes which is important.Saltaire Blonde (4.0% ABV -- reviewed 15 January 2013)
• I purchased a bottle of this beer at Marks & Spencer on my way home from work one day. It's described as American style, with pale and crystal malts, torrefied wheat, and Cascade, Magnum, Summit, and Galena hops. It's also described as a full bodied pale (although we thought it was rather tawny in colour), with creamy caramel and malt flavours and intense resin, citrus and grapefruit hops flavours. I don't mean to be lazy here, but the label described it perfectly. It's a really good beer! And Andrew loves it as well. We'd love to find it on cask somewhere, so I'll keep my eye out for it. Maybe both eyes. Perhaps I'll get Andrew to help and then we'll have four eyes out. After a thoroughly boring and maddening day at work suffering from the end of a cold, this was definitely manna from heaven.Stateside IPA (6.0% ABV -- reviewed 22 November 2016)

San Luis Obispo Brewing Company, San Luis Obispo, California:

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• Described as having tropical hops with real blood oranges and dragon fruit, this beer offers only 25 IBUs, so it's not that bitter. Kim thought it was weirdly orange tasting, and I told him that was because it's brewed with blood oranges. It's basically just a pleasant orange brew.A-Slo-Ha Blood Orange Hazy IPA (6.5% ABV -- reviewed 15 July 2024)

Santa Monica Brewing Company, Santa Monica, California:

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• I had this at my good friend Eileen's house in Westwood on the night before my early morning flight home, so the low ABV was fine with me. It was a bit on the bland side, but I could say it was as drinkable as a decent ordinary lager.310 Blonde (4.8% ABV -- reviewed 15 July 2024)
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• This is a west Coast-style IPA generously hopped with Citra, Simcoe, El Dorado, and Summit. I had this at Eileen's when I first arrived before flying home from LAX. It was surprisingly good!Inclined IPA (7.0% ABV -- reviewed 15 July 2024)

Seven Bro7ers Brewing Company, Salford, Greater Manchester:

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• A hazy, dry-hopped beer, this is pretty damn good, with my style of hoppiness and a good tropical-fruit character. I drank this while having a couple of pints on HouseParty with my friends Olly and Ali. Sadly, the only place I’ve ever seen it on sale is at a ridiculously overpriced off-license, so this will probably be the last can of this I see, unless somebody else starts stocking it.Juicy IPA (6.0% ABV -- reviewed 6 June 2020)

Shepherd Neame, Faversham, Kent:

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• This is very much like a traditional IPA. Very good, but a tad melancholic, like a tragic movie star who is a truly fine actor but nevertheless has faced many disappointments in life. But who am I kidding -- this could easily be an Oscar winner.1698 Celebration Ale (6.5% ABV -- reviewed April 1999)
• What else can I say about Bishop's Finger? This is a FINE beer! Fine! Fine! Truly fine! Yes! A real beer in a bottle! Yes! YES! This is a DAMN FINE BEER!!!!! Need I say more?Bishop's Finger Kentish Strong Ale (5.4% ABV -- reviewed April 1999)
• This beer is the colour of sunset over the sea -- the North Sea, obviously. It tastes of very tangy Target hops which hit the tongue like a bulls-eye. Whitstable, which is famous for its oysters and its fish market, reminds me of my time in Folkestone and makes me think of cockles, winkles, whelks, queenies, and other odd Southerners...Whitstable Bay Organic Ale (4.5% ABV -- reviewed 1 January 2011)

Shiny Brewing Company, Derby, Derbyshire:

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• Brewed with Citra, Mosaic, Talus, and Loral, this was my second can for Olly’s soiree, and whomp! That lovely hops combination swirled around on my tongue and made me happy! Yes! I wish I’d brought another couple of cans of this. The can proudly describes this as follows: "a celestial spectacle! Beams of resin and pine. A floral, citrus glow. Loral and Talus twinkle together above waves of Citra and Mosaic. Let's be Laser Chasers." So I don’t really have to say any more than that.Laser Chasers DDH Pale (5.5% ABV -- reviewed 12 February 2024)
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• Brewed with Sabro, Bru-1, and Motueka hops, this was very tropical and appropriate for the warm muggy day on which I drank it. The swirly colourful design on the can made me almost want to try to find a shower curtain like that. Or better still, a nice shower with a proper half-glass door with that pattern, because I prefer more modern showers. Or in the case of my sibling group’s main shower, no doors at all, only walls. Ok, dream house note...LIT DDH Pale (5.0% ABV -- reviewed 15 October 2023)
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• Brewed with Citra and Nectaron hops and described on the can as imparting "intense tropical pineapple, passion fruit, and stone fruit", there was definitely a smooth, fruity hoppiness to this -- like drinking a beer instead of, say, a daiquiri. It was pleasant enough, though.Now Streaming Nectaron IPA (6.2% ABV -- reviewed 15 April 2024)
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• This beer is brewed with Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe hops. On the can it says "Hop out at the After Party! Capybara Capybara Capybara", and I haven't the slightest idea what that refers to. It's a nice fruity drop on a pleasantly warm day, a few days before I leave for another USA hop. With a moment of online research, I learned that it's a song by Don Toliver. Everybody's been telling me lately how cool I am, but I'm afraid I just don't know this song. I do know capybaras, though, and I'm happy to be drinking a hoppy beer with cool capybaras on the can.Okay I Pull Up DDH Pale (5.1%% ABV -- reviewed 15 July 2024)
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• his is just a really nice hopmonster that I sipped at a currently unemployed friend's late tagine lunch gathering a few days before Halloween. I was being highly distracted by a friend's detailed account of his recent two-month campervan trip across Eastern Europe, but as I recall in brief moments of focusing on my taste buds, this was quite refreshingly enjoyable. The can features a wizard on a dark night, which obviously fits in with the holiday season. Citra Azacca, and Galaxy, so no wonder.Pop Culture (5.1%% ABV -- reviewed 15 July 2024)

Shipyard Brewing Company, Portland, Maine:

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• This deep gold brew is actually quite a pleasantly drinkable beer. It’s not overly hoppy or capable of sending one into unexplored realms, but it’s just a good traditional American craft beer with a grapefruit hoppiness. I can see the sailing ships pulling out of the harbour...actually I’ve never been to Maine, much less to Portland, Maine, so I’m not sure if this image is accurate. But I have been to Portland, Oregon plenty of times, and I even rode on a sternwheeler down the Columbia River. I realise that’s a slightly different image, but at least it was a boat...Shipyard American IPA (5.0% ABV -- reviewed 6 June 2020)

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, Chico, California:

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• As described on the can, this is "seriously hoppy". It's also a very good example of the dank side. On my recent trip to California, as we sat out on the back patio in Bakersfield in the dark, my unofficial brother Kim instantly fell in love with the whole idea of dank. On future visits I will definitely have to seek out dankness in the beers we buy. That's no problem for me, because I'm already a fan.Dankful IPA (7.4% ABV -- reviewed 4 July 2022)
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• I haven’t tasted anything for years from this old classic California brewery. When I lived in Seattle I used to enjoy the brewery’s Celebration Ale, but that’s been years now. So when I spotted this can I decided to see what it was like. It’s surprisingly hoppy, with oo-ee hops bouncing out of the can at the first sip. It’s buzzily zoomphy! Sorry, I’m running out of good alliterations for what all the different hops characters do to my tongue and senses. I suppose it’s from lockdown fatigue.Hazy Little Thing IPA (4.6% ABV -- reviewed 6 June 2020)
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• As it’s getting warm -- in relation to Yorkshire weather, that is -- I chilled a can of this first in the fridge. Then I sat on the back step in the sun, after an exhausting walk to the shops in a haze where I inadvertently kept doing all the wrong social-distancing things while a large white tissue of which I was completely unaware waved unattractively at all the passersby from the back pocket of my jeans. Meanwhile there is a pipe under our combi boiler that is suddenly dripping, and it’s the end of Friday. Yes, I felt humiliated and stressed out and worried and I definitely needed a lift. This is a refreshing citrussy drop from my home state, so that helped a bit.California IPA (4.2% ABV -- reviewed 6 June 2020)
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• This is another beer that comes in a 12-ounce American can, which just makes you feel like you enjoy that little bit more. It’s brewed with Magnum hops and lupulin dust, which I think are two great ideas. I loved the lupulin dust, having first experienced that sensation in the Bay Area only a few years ago. The beer was gorgeous and somehow suited the surprisingly frigid Arctic April day.Hop Bullet Double IPA (8.0% ABV -- reviewed 20 July 2021)
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• This is a nice, evenly balanced, drinkable beer, and it's in a bottle, no less. It's dry hopped with the brewery's patented Hop Torpedo. Citra, Crystal, and Magnum hops, and caramelised and Two-Row Pale malts. This was brewed using Sierra Nevada's Hop Torpedo device, which was designed to maximise the flavour and aroma extracted from whole-cone hops. It definitely does the job.Torpedo Extra IPA (7.2% ABV -- reviewed 25 July 2023)
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• According to the can, this classic Pacific Coast brewery is “family owned, operated, and argued over”. And it’s a proper 12-ounce American can as well, just like the cans and bottles I buy when I’m visiting the US. This tropical IPA imports an earthy jolt of pale light hops. It’s a gentle torpedo, an easy-to-drink nuclear weapon.Tropical Torpedo (6.0% ABV -- reviewed 20 July 2021)
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• I finally had the opportunity to try this bottle of beer I've had for awhile. It's hoppy and very flavourful, a welcome drop after the very long hectic day I had just experienced. I could definitely detect tropical fruit -- perhaps pineapple and mango -- with plenty of hops. It was an October sunset enjoyed on a dark rainy November day. To paraphrase FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper, it's damn fine pint of beer.Twin Peaks (5.0% ABV -- brewed in collaboration with Thornbridge Brewing, Bakewell, Derbyshire -- reviewed 15 November 2014)

Signature Brew, Leyton, Greater London:

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• Signature Brew is known for its collaborative beers and brewing with musicians. It was started in 2015 by musicians and bands. This is a nice easy IPA, good for relieving my sleepless stressed grieving soul. It’s just a basically nice IPA, sort of undemandingly drinkable, like Farmers Blonde by Bradfield Brewery. Backstage IPA (5.6% ABV -- reviewed 6 June 2020)

Smog City Brewing Company, Hawthorne, California:

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• Hopped with Azacca, Cashmere, and Amarillo hops, and offering citrus and tropical fruit, this beer is part of the brewery’s Smog Days Haze Craze IPA Series. On my visit to Long Beach, I split a can of this with Betsy, who thought it tasted like cannabis. I explained to her that it was the dank character, and it definitely tipped her over into a lover of IPA, especially because it was "bubbly", as she put it. And it was a vast improvement from the draft lager she had just had at a microbrewery. So good work on my part! This beer also offers a bit of perfume, like I get from Cashmere hops, along with tropical fruit and citrus.Optical Haze (6.7% ABV -- reviewed 28 September 2025)

Societe Brewing Company, San Diego, California:

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• The description of this West Coast IPA was "Savvy-Pine-Grit". And that’s what immediately sold me. And yes, it was quite great.The Apprentice IPA (7.2% ABV -- reviewed 28 September 2025)

  Spire Brewery, Chesterfield, Derbyshire:

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  • This is a good crispy hoppy quaff that stimulates the Hops part of the palate. Does hops stimulate the mind? I think it does. Along with oily fish and gingko biloba, hops is a brain tonic. (If used in moderation, of course; otherwise expect a good deal of creative twaddle.)Land of Hop and Glory (4.5% ABV -- reviewed 24 January 2010)

  St Austell Brewery, St Austell, Cornwall:

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  • Recently we shared a bottle of this super-hopped perk-up to a tired and down sort of day. It's brewed with Chinook, Cascade, and Willamette hops, the Willamette making me think of my mother's home town of Seaside, Oregon, which is a long way from Sheffield. This definitely perked me up and lifted me out of my exhausted and unsociable funk.Proper Job (5.5% ABV -- reviewed 4 April 2015)

  Stone Brewing Company, Escondido, California:

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  • This beer is hopped with Columbus, Calypso, Lemondrop, and El Dorado, so these exciting hops lend a satisfying hoppy citrus reward in a glass. It's quite golden in colour, and the lemondrop hops, which I've only had once before, are from Washington State. This is lovely, so it's a very appropriate name.Delicious IPA (7.7% ABV -- reviewed 25 July 2023)
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  • Brewed with Ahtanum, Amarillo, Cascade, Chinook, Citra, Crystal, Magnum, Sterling, and Hopsteiner 06300 hops, with peach, citrus, melon flavours, this beer will supposedly go well with stuffed poblano peppers, jerk chicken, ceviche, Cajun shrimp, chips and salsa, grilled salmon. The can says it’s brewed in the US rather than Berlin, where the recent can of Stone IPA was brewed. It’s quite nice, actually, as a starter can for the weekly local friends’ pub quiz, which I was a bit startled to win this week thanks to a ridiculously simple tie-breaker question aimed at Americans rather than Brits. Anyway, I seem to nearly always go to IPA when I want a beer, so following this beer’s instructions is always quite easy for me.Go To IPA (4.7% ABV -- reviewed 6 June 2020)
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  • This is described as a San Diego Pale Ale. The 12-ounce can promises a “rippin’ swell of juicy hops”, and with one sip I’m suddenly projected back in Northern San Diego County, back when none of this Covid-19 shite existed, or else far into the future when Covid-19 is only a nightmarish memory with which to horrify the kiddies. This is a truly rippin’ very tropical beer. The impressive hops list includes Cascade, Galaxy, Hallertauer Blanc, Hüll Melon, and Mandarina Bavaria hops from the US West Coast, Australia, and Germany. Wow. It is truly a ripper. Hang ten!Ripper (5.7% ABV -- reviewed 27 August 2020)
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  • This is brewed with Lemon Drop, Centennial, and Cascade hops, which are all hops I really like. This is a cloudy beer. It's nice: hoppy with a dryness on the tongue. Considering the massive downpour of rain I had just managed to avoid on my way home from work, the dryness was welcome.Scorpion Bowl IPA (7.5% ABV -- brewed in collaboration with Abbeydale Brewing, Sheffield -- reviewed 25 November 2018)
  • Brewed at Stone's Berlin brewery, this beer's can announces that it's the IPA “that launched generations of hop fanatics.” I can’t really dispute that, at least on the Pacific Coast of America. I have to admit that in the 21st century I have bought many sixpacks of Stone IPA from the Trader Joe’s in Long Beach whenever I’ve been visiting my mother. Brewed with Magnum, Centennial, and Mosaic hops, this features a good mix of citrus and pine flavours. As I sipped this satisfying brew I found myself pining (sorry) away for one of the many beer gardens in Stoneyland, my nickname for the massive Stone Brewing Company in Escondido, California. When I examined the can further, though, I discovered that this particular batch was brewed in Berlin. What a surprise, and yet another good reason to visit Berlin whenever we can all do such things like travelling beyond our neighbourhoods again. According to Stone’s website, Stone IPA is supposed to go well with stuffed poblanos, a Caesar salad, spicy Thai salmon, Pecorino cheese as an after, and a Macanudo cigar. Okay, I’d better get on it and place my order now. And while we wait for our excellent meal, served al fresco, we can enjoy this great classic of a hoppy IPA. Hey, we can dream, can’t we? At least the beer is real...Stone IPA (6.9% ABV -- reviewed 4 May 2020)
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  • This collaboration with Thornbridge Brewing of Bakewell, Derbyshire uses all-American hops, including Centennial, Citra, Cryo Idaho 7, and Sabro. Described on the can as offering “assertive pine and grapefruit” which “leaps on the palate with tangerine and lemon", I was really looking forward to tasting it. It’s a pretty can as well, with palm trees basking against a colourful sunset. And yeah, it definitely suggested a nice cooling pine-scented Pacific ocean breeze blowing while I held a grapefruit-lemon cocktail in my hand. It was just what I needed for the depressing week it had been. Yes! Yes! Good day Sunset!West Side Glory (7.5% ABV -- reviewed 24 August 2025)

  Sureshot Brewing Company, Manchester:

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  • As I’m trying this beer in mid-December, before yet another lockdown, my hair is newly brightly-coloured, so I’m feeling relatively good. Christmas is looking extremely bleak and lonely, so why not break away and take a long, strong journey through hopfields of the world? This beer is brewed with Galaxy (for jetting around planets), Mosaic (bringing to mind the tile floors of Morocco), and Citra (ending with a tour through Southern California orchards). The idea of this appeals to me, as the only desire I have at the moment is to travel somewhere far away from where I am now. And my first sip brings a wh-wh-wh-WHOW! Yep, I can hear the crackle of the cocked barrel, the instant reloading, the Wham! Wham! Wham into my palate. This will bring out the neon turquoise, jade green, and purple in my hair, yessireebob!15 Mile Round Trip Double IPA (8.0% ABV -- brewed in collaboration with Vocation Brewing Company, Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire -- reviewed 26 April 2021)
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  • This was the first can I had after my return from America. This is brewed with Alphonso mangoes, those gorgeous yellow versions that I only just discovered recently. And the sales of this beer benefit the Eden Young Fellowship for Aspiring Working Class Journalists. On the can is a cool grey-scale can design with pictures of retro office girls. On first sniff I was entranced by an almost El Dorado hops aroma, but man, the first taste was Sourrrr!, so it's not for the faint-hearted sour dabblers. The day I drank it was a cool, sunny, and very windy UK Election day, so I was relieved that the wind was here in Sheffield and not in the record-breaking heat in parts of the US on their Independence Day. As I continued to sip this beer, I became aware of a lot of impressively eclectic flavours, though, behind that Sourzzzzz!! starter.His Girl Friday Mango Peach and Passionfruit Sour (4.5% ABV -- brewed in collaboration with Polyester and Bundobust of Manchester -- reviewed 15 July 2024)
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  • Being a lifelong toy collector I couldn’t resist this can the moment I saw it. Besides having an intriguing name, there is all sorts of stuff written on the can if you stop to study it. First of all, under the name of the beer is a balloon that says “Yello! Mr Burns’ office!” plunging the drinker right into an episode of “The Simpsons”. But then the writing continued: “Be a real hot rod mama! With NE drag race action! “You have 30 MINUTES to move your cube!” The accompanying graphics feature a toy with a racing car and a crane, and lots of little plastic things that all do something!! I love these kinds of toys, especially when they have to do with cars. Oh look, there’s more: “You have 30 minutes to move your car. You have 10 minutes…your car has been impounded. Your car has been crushed into a cue.” This is right up my current stress-level alley!
    
    But I do go on sometimes: what clinched the sale was the mention of Nelson Sauvin, T90, Mosaic, Cryo, and BBC hops. Described as fruity with earthy bitterness, it also suggests that this DDH IPA is best paired with steamed toast and a dodo egg. Oh my, what fun this is to drink for a hops monster lover like myself, and what more fun it would be to drink it while actually playing with the described toy. Oops, out of time--CRUNCH! Oh well, my first car, a 1966 VW Fastback, was a lemon anyway. Still, it’s so tragic for any gorgeous car to be melted down into a cube. The thought breaks my heart--not that I’m prejudiced against cubes or anything...Is It About My Cube? DDH IPA (6.5% ABV -- reviewed 12 February 2024)

  Swale Brewery, Sittingbourne, Kent:

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  • Naturally I couldn't resist trying an Old Dick. It's a Beauty of Hops 1997 silver medal award winner, but I'm afraid Old Dick came too soon! The opened bottle spewed forth foam, with a head like an ice cream float. It was slightly sour, otherwise tasteless like -- yes, like an old dick! (And don't ask me how I know; I'm only guessing! Okay?)Old Dick (5.2% ABV -- reviewed April 1999)

  Swannay Brewing Company, Birsay, Orkney, Scotland:

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  • This beer tastes like a rich floral bubble bath.Orkney Blast (6.0% ABV -- reviewed 12 August 2007)
  • This was very malty but a nicely bitter malt, like a brick red and olive green plaid as opposed to a magenta and blue plaid, which I think would taste a bit too treacly.St Magnus Ale (4.5% ABV -- reviewed 12 December 2007)