1) When you try a tasty beer, is it wrong to keep it all to yourself and not share it? You see, sometimes when I taste a nice beer I hand the glass to my wife so she can try it. It’s been part of a long-term plan to change her tastes when it comes to beer. And it’s worked pretty well.

2) A few years ago, she’d shy away from stouts and porters because they were dark – she wouldn’t go any further than Guinness. Like many other people, she had the misconception that a dark beer would be heavy, thick and strong in terms of alcohol. Nowadays, she’s fine to try any black beer – she even likes some of them.

3) But I don’t always want to let her taste what I’m drinking, Take this year’s version of The Gatherer by Stone & Wood. I cracked open a bottle and found it rather tasty so I gave my wife a sip. She raved about it, so I thought I’d be nice and poured some out of my glass and into hers. After I handed it to her, I looked at my pint glass (yeah, I poured the whole 500ml bottle into a glass) and thought “bugger, that glass was full and now it’s half-empty. I wanted more of that”.

4) Luckily I do have more. When Stone & Wood send out review samples, they send out two bottles. Which is the way it should be. One to review and one to simply enjoy without having to take notes. And this is where the “not sharing” thing comes in. I really liked this beer and am very much inclined to be greedy and keep that second bottle all to myself. That plan is helped by the fact that my wife doesn’t know about the second bottle’s existence.

5) For the geeks who want to know the details of what’s inside the bottle, here it is. Though I don’t know why me saying I really liked it isn’t good enough for you. It pours a pinkish hue, which will mean I’ll have to drink it while my wife is not around because she’ll recognise it in the glass. It’s made with sour cherries, finger limes and river mint. I can definitely get the cheers on the nose and palate but as for the other two additions, well, I’m not sure what they taste like so I can’t tell you. It’s dry and tart, due to the cherries, which makes it a nice sipper on a hot day.

Free or paid for?: Free, the Stone & Wood family sent me two bottles. And I’ve made up my mind, I’m not sharing that second bottle.