They can never take our Freedom

They, of course, being the security staff at Birmingham International. The liquids ban on flights is a real pain for the beer traveller, and not only directly. When my sister came over to Dublin from Brum she picked me up a bottle of Freedom Organic Lager at an airside kiosk, asking them to leave the cap on. Oddly enough, they did, so the bottle reached Dublin intact and has been languishing in my fridge for a while now. I finally got round to opening it last weekend.

Turns out it was just three days before the best-before date, and I'm fairly sure it suffered from my tardiness. It fizzed enthusiastically out of the bottle but settled quickly, leaving a bright gold, slightly hazy, body where the carbonation is definitely on the light side letting the malt shine through. And shine it does: this is a sweet caramelly lager with quite a full and smooth texture. Very little hops are in evidence, and the only flaw I can detect is a certain staleness which in all probability is caused by the bottle's antiquity. Fresh, I bet it's a cracker, of the decent everyday sort.

There's some great beer to be had in the English midlands, and not all of it's ale.