Shopping for Beer

Saturday tends to be my shop-beer day. Here was today's purchase Batemans Dark Lord at an excellent price of £1.39 in Aldi today. Since I tend to end up brewing dark beers (there is somehow an attraction to them - kind of an extra perceived value or something) I've started to gravitate towards them on the odd occasions I buy beer. This happens less and less, because I'm finding the stuff I'm brewing is mostly much better (a few exceptions - Bristol Beer Factory often seem to hit the spot). When I buy beer, I'm looking for:

1. Style - continental craft-brewed ales are top of the list. German, Belgian, French Biere De Garde if I ever see it (which is seldom - why has French beer disappeared from our supermarket shelves?). I'm trying to find really great craft-brewed British beers too, but they're not the norm.
2. Strength - for everyday I'm looking for a five point something. The big beers are great with food but (for me) overpowering on their own. I like the idea of them but find I seldom drink much when I have them in.
3. Bottle and label. The bottle has to be good, strong and REUSABLE (by me!), which means the label needs to be paper, stuck on with some kind of normal glue. Handily, the Belgian and German beers are always like this - they must know about the thrifty reusing of bottles. Sadly many many British ales are a challenge - look out for plastic labels with shiny bits - they're hell to get off (I end up using white spirit - it really shouldn't be necessary).

Back to Batemans Dark Lord (enjoyed with a plate of jerk Chicken Rice and Peas). It claims a gold medal at the worlds top 50 beer competition. To be honest though I was only mildly impressed. It has a colour similar to my Dark Alt (my all-time favorite brew) - claiming to be a ruby ale, it's almost black until you hold it to the light, and see the lovely clear ruby glow. But the head disappeared in a few moments - and the beer drank rather thin. I'm not crowing about my beer - but mine was silky-rounded smooth and dark, with a deep-seated bitterness. This was lighter bodied, less bitter, and didn't have the silky texture. There was a rather nice toasty flavour in the Dark Lord though, and the it was refreshing but satisfying with the food. I think the big difference in the beers is the Munich malt I use, plus the Altbier step mash. But it all just shows once again, I just like my beer better. Mmm.