Beer of the Day: Wadworth 6X

We’ve had beer experts and famous faces choosing our Beers of the Day. Today, we’ve gone for a full-blown superfan. Meet Tim Mackie-Harrison – lifelong cask lover, officially crowned one of Wadworth’s “Legends”, and a man whose relationship with 6X started considerably earlier than licensing laws would have preferred.

Tim grew up near Wadworth’s old Northgate Brewery in Devizes. He remembers the malty smell of brewing drifting across his primary-school playground and sneaking the occasional sip of 6X from his dad’s glass at the village pub. Fast-forward a few years (and to entirely legal pints) and that affection hasn’t gone anywhere. Tim even won a competition to help brew 6X 1923, the special 6% version recreated for the beer’s centenary, alongside Wadworth’s head brewer. Unsurprisingly, it’s now his all-time favourite. This isn’t so much a Beer of the Day nomination as a lifelong love affair.

And what started it all? 6X. First brewed on 5 December 1923, today’s 4.1% cask version is a rich amber ale packed with malt and fruit, balanced by Fuggles and Goldings hops and finishing with that long, satisfying maltiness that has kept generations coming back. Even its wonderfully odd name comes with a pub-worthy story. Strong beers were traditionally marked on casks with crosses, so the original 6% beer would have received six of them: XXXXXX. Wadworth cooper Reg Morris shortened the lot to 6X – and more than a century later, the name is still on the handpull.

So today, we’re taking advice from someone who has known the smell of Wadworth beer since the playground, tasted 6X from his dad’s pint and eventually ended up helping to brew its centenary edition. That’s what we call a proper cask ale fan. If you already know and love 6X, raise a glass to Tim and more than a century of this Wiltshire classic.