World Beer Review: England

[Iz Man]

I figured we'd start in the British Isles, continuing on into Wales, Ireland, and, of course, Scotland. From there perhaps Europe's mainland and around the world. I'm really curious to know how people from these countries (in this case, England) may feel about the brews being rated, or perhaps recommend a local favorite.


Greene King Strong Suffolk
Origin: Eastern England
Style: Old Ale
Alcohol: 6.0% ABV

Many English breweries once aged beer in wooden tuns, blending old and new to achieve equilibrium. Greene King is the last to do so with this specialty, which deserves to be much better known. It is matured in ceiling-high wooden tuns for between 1 and 5 years. It boasts a sappy, peppery & winey taste. It has been served at dinners of the local brewers' guild with pickled herrings. It is also good with blue cheese, especially English Stilton.

King's influence: When King Henry VIII "dissolved" the abbeys in the 1500's, the monks of St. Edmunds hid in tunnels that probably gave rise to the cellars in which the beer is today matured.


Adnams Broadside
Origin: Eastern England
Style: Strong Ale
Alcohol: 6.3% ABV

A whiff of grapeshot from British cannon is remembered in the beer called Broadside. The shots were fired against the Dutch during the Battle of Sole Bay in 1672. The seaside town of Southwold, on Sole Bay in Suffolk, is the home of Adnams brewery. Broadside is an amber-red strong ale with a rocky head; firm, remarkably smooth body; mellow, nutty, malt flavors; a cherrylike fruitiness; and in the finish, enough lingering dryness to make the drinker thirst for another.
Explosive brew? As the label shows, a "broadside" refers to all the cannons on one side of a ship being fired at once.

[Norse]

Excellent thread!

My fave:-

Horndean special bitter
Origin: Hampshire
Style: Ale
Alcohol: 4.8% ABV

Horndean, in Hampshire, is a small village to the north of Portsmouth. It is actually situated on the A3, the main road that connects Portsmouth with London. Long before the A3 was constructed, Horndean was a busy village for as travellers and soldiers made there way to and from the country's main naval town.

Before the glass touches your lips, you cannot help but catch the aroma that wafts up from the beer. The smell is distinct, but not overpowering. It reminds me of a dew rich forest on a fresh morning, with a woody, fruity aroma. This serves the effect of further exciting the taste buds.

[Backglass]

Woohoo! I am a BIG Home Brewer and beer fanatic as you know!

I have a question for our friends across the pond...

Here in my little portion of NY, Smithwicks is starting to appear in most of the pubs. Is it popular in the UK or is it one of those "Exported to the US but considered shit in it's home country" (like Fosters or Tanqueray Gin)?

[Norse]

I've got to be honest, I've never heard of smithwicks, but then again, there are so many different specialist breweries in the UK, and most will only be sold locally to the brewery, and in franchises of the brewery, like my fave HSB.

I've just google 'smithwicks' and it looks like it is founded in killkenny, ireland, so you're jumping the gun here , we havent moved onto there yet.

[Nickbaldwin]

I like a bit of Marston's 'Owd Rodger'.

[Iz Man]

I like a bit of Marston's 'Owd Rodger'.

Wow, I was actually going to post Owd Rodger, but ended up deciding on the Greene King.
If I may......

Marston's Owd Rodger
Origin: Trent Valley, England
Style: Old Ale/Barleywine
Alcohol: 7.6% ABV

Owd Rodger is the stronger style of old ale and has a warming alcohol note. It pours with a dense head, leaving good lacework (bubbles on the glass); has an almost purple color; a licorice aroma; a rooty palate; a lightly creamy body; and a fruity, port-like finish.

[Bertros Bertros]

Here in my little portion of NY, Smithwicks is starting to appear in most of the pubs. Is it popular in the UK or is it one of those "Exported to the US but considered shit in it's home country" (like Fosters or Tanqueray Gin)?

Smithwicks is popular in Ireland but you don't really see it in England, though we get other Irsh beers which are very similar like Kilkenny.

They are both fine beers Iz but as its summer and I'm inclined to get going a bit earlier I'm drinking stuff a little bit easier going. Greene King also do Abbot Ale which is a lovely pint but my beer of the moment is Tribute.

Tribute
Origin: St Austell Brewery, Cornwall, England
Alcohol: 4.2% ABV
Style: Fresh, fruity, pale amber

[Nephilim]

i'll enjoy the thread, but i can't believe such a pretentious brownshirt has real taste in beer.....

[DAZMCFC]

Holt`s Bitter a local brew with a distinguished taste, not for the faint hearted. google and see for other info.

[Iz Man]

....... its summer and I'm inclined to get going a bit earlier I'm drinking stuff a little bit easier going. Greene King also do Abbot Ale which is a lovely pint but my beer of the moment is Tribute.

Tribute
Origin: St Austell Brewery, Cornwall, England
Alcohol: 4.2% ABV
Style: Fresh, fruity, pale amber

Good point. So in hopes of keeping the summer alive just a bit longer. Here is a popular English
"warm-weather refresher":

Banks's
Origin: West Midlands of England
Style: Mild Ale
Alcohol: 3.5% ABV

One of the most famous mild ales in Britain is Banks's. The brewery built its fortune on mild, and now refer to it as "Uniquely Balanced Beer".
The term "mild ale" refers to a restrained hop character. A mild ale is, by definition, not bitter, and usually has a lightly sweetish smoothness of malt character. Dark malts are often used, though there are also some paler milds. The style is also usually low in alcohol.
With its easy drinkability and restorative sweetness, the style was traditionally popular among industrial workers, especially in the foundries of the West Midlands.

[rsuttles58]

The 5th one from the left. Old Hooky. This was my favorite beer when I was in Oxford this summer. I actually first had it in Salisbury..which I'm not even sure is in Oxfordshire.

[Norse]

I am actually impressed with Iz_mans knowledge and appreciation of english ale...

Top man, but wait until we gety onto the european lagers, thats where my passion lies...

as Ive said before, the germans make good shit.

[mybike_yourface]

i love the ales(and lagers) from the British Isles. it seems to me that here in the U.S. a lot of beer has becomed horribly unbalanced. i'd love to get over there and try more irish and british stuff.

i here budweiser has become very popular over there. i like bud but it's boring. i was shocked to read Micheal Jackson say how good he thought it was.

do any of you homebrew?

[Iz Man]

i here budweiser has become very popular over there. i like bud but it's boring. i was shocked to read Micheal Jackson say how good he thought it was.

do any of you homebrew?

Yeah, I'm not a big Budweiser fan, but it has its own place among beers so I don't knock them too hard.
I homebrew, as do a few others here.

[heavycola]

this really is the UK's tastiest bottled beer. leaving aside cask ales (because there are so MANY, beautiful as so many of them are), i heartily recommend that if you haven't tried this, you really really should.

It's 6.6%, with a strong smooth taste that ends in rich toffee. Aged in oak barrels for 2 months after brewing. And it is amazing.

[Iz Man]

this really is the UK's tastiest bottled beer. leaving aside cask ales (because there are so MANY, beautiful as so many of them are), i heartily recommend that if you haven't tried this, you really really should.

It's 6.6%, with a strong smooth taste that ends in rich toffee. Aged in oak barrels for 2 months after brewing. And it is amazing.

Very nice.
I've never tried it before. I'll be looking for it in the package store.

[Gypsys Kiss]

anything brewed by the wychwood brewery based in witney oxfordshire. i am particularly fond of hobgoblin.

[Iz Man]

anything brewed by the wychwood brewery based in witney oxfordshire. i am particularly fond of hobgoblin.

I'm very fond of Hobgoblin, I've seen Fiddler's elbow here but haven't tried it yet.
They're both pretty expensive, $11.99/six pack. Ouch.

[heavycola]

anything brewed by the wychwood brewery based in witney oxfordshire. i am particularly fond of hobgoblin.

I'm very fond of Hobgoblin, I've seen Fiddler's elbow here but haven't tried it yet.
They're both pretty expensive, $11.99/six pack. Ouch.

That's probably not far off what it costs here. Damn pound!

[2dimes]

Bump

[Genghis Khant]

I spent last weekend in north Devon and was drinking a nice local brew called the Exmoor Beast - 6.6% (they missed a marketing trick there, it just needs another 0.06% and the goths & rockers will be lapping it up).

Beast by name and Beast by nature, this exquisitely strong-willed, full-bodied dark porter first saw daylight in the autumn of 1992 and is now available both on draught and in bottle. Inspired by the fireside tales of wild cats roaming the moors of Exmoor and a continuation of a beer style that emerged in the 1700s and was named after its popularity with London porters, this complex and heady brew has been a continual favourite of beer fans up and down the country. Its strength means this is a beer to be respected, sipped slowly to warm up a winter’s night while the weather does its worst. Or you might like it slightly chilled elsewhere in the year, a beer drinker’s version of an Irish coffee.

Brewed with a mix of pale ale, chocolate and crystal malts, and hopped with Goldings, Challenger and Brewers Gold, it is dark mahogany-brown in colour, with the merest hint of crimson tints at its edge. Lush rich aromas of toffee, treacle. Mocha coffee, vinous fruit and chocolate swirl above the glass. There’s more complexity on the palate with rich fruitcake, a hint of rum, more Mocha coffee, an herbal hoppiness, vinous fruit, while the bittersweet finish is smooth yet complex, rich but not cloying. Try it with ice cream where the vanilla flavours would work well with the bittersweet richness of the porter; it is also ideal for a ripe Stilton or even as part of the mix for a rich winter stew. Try it also in cake mix, with one local Exmoor favourite being an Exmoor Beast fruitcake with whisky icing.

And they're right too, treat it with respect. I can handle my beer well & I didn't get too pissed, but this beast of an ale did bite me on the arse. When I sat on the khazi on Sunday morning it came out like a flock of startled pigeons. I tell you, it was like bats leaving a cave at dusk. I'm going to make sure I've eaten plenty of roughage before my next session on the Beast!



They also do the Exmoor Gold which is quite a nice pint too, but I prefer the Beast for flavour as well as strength.

[Iz Man]

I spent last weekend in north Devon and was drinking a nice local brew called the Exmoor Beast - 6.6% (they missed a marketing trick there, it just needs another 0.06% and the goths & rockers will be lapping it up).

Beast by name and Beast by nature, this exquisitely strong-willed, full-bodied dark porter first saw daylight in the autumn of 1992 and is now available both on draught and in bottle. Inspired by the fireside tales of wild cats roaming the moors of Exmoor and a continuation of a beer style that emerged in the 1700s and was named after its popularity with London porters, this complex and heady brew has been a continual favourite of beer fans up and down the country. Its strength means this is a beer to be respected, sipped slowly to warm up a winter’s night while the weather does its worst. Or you might like it slightly chilled elsewhere in the year, a beer drinker’s version of an Irish coffee.

Brewed with a mix of pale ale, chocolate and crystal malts, and hopped with Goldings, Challenger and Brewers Gold, it is dark mahogany-brown in colour, with the merest hint of crimson tints at its edge. Lush rich aromas of toffee, treacle. Mocha coffee, vinous fruit and chocolate swirl above the glass. There’s more complexity on the palate with rich fruitcake, a hint of rum, more Mocha coffee, an herbal hoppiness, vinous fruit, while the bittersweet finish is smooth yet complex, rich but not cloying. Try it with ice cream where the vanilla flavours would work well with the bittersweet richness of the porter; it is also ideal for a ripe Stilton or even as part of the mix for a rich winter stew. Try it also in cake mix, with one local Exmoor favourite being an Exmoor Beast fruitcake with whisky icing.

And they're right too, treat it with respect. I can handle my beer well & I didn't get too pissed, but this beast of an ale did bite me on the arse. When I sat on the khazi on Sunday morning it came out like a flock of startled pigeons. I tell you, it was like bats leaving a cave at dusk. I'm going to make sure I've eaten plenty of roughage before my next session on the Beast!

The Beast sounds great, love the label too. I wonder if they export. I'll have to look that one up.