Tag Archives: Beer snobbery

The Halftime Pint: Goose Island Mild

One of the greater things about watching football in America is that most matches, especially those of the EPL, are early in the morning American time, giving people an excuse to day drink. This is part of our series discussing exactly what to drink when you’re at the pub, presented by our resident homebrewer, Keith

The Beer: Goose Island Mild, Goose Island Brewing Company, Chicago, Illinois

The Pub: The Owl Farm, on 9th Street and 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.

The Story: Goose Island was founded on the North Side of Chicago in 1988. Founder John Hall was the pioneer of the “on-premises” brewpub that we’ve become accustomed to in the hearts of many cities across the nation (think Heartland or Birreria in New York, Triumph in Philly, Cap City and District Chophouse in DC).

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The Halftime Pint: Monty Python’s Holy Grail Black Knight’s Reserve

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Bartenders tend to like me.

One of the greater things about watching football in America is that most matches, especially those of the EPL, are early in the morning American time, giving people an excuse to day drink. This is part of our series discussing exactly what to drink when you’re at the pub, presented by our resident homebrewer, Keith

The Beer: Monty Python’s Holy Grail Black Knight’s Reserve, Black Sheep Brewery, Masham, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom

The Pub: The Queen Vic, in northeast DC

What You Need to Know: We covered Black Sheep Brewing’s history in the Yorkshire Dales previously in this space. In 1999, the brewery was contracted by the famed British comedy troupe to recognize their 30th anniversary year. Holy Grail Pale Ale was the result, and soon after the brewery added a Black Knight’s Reserve, a “Dark Yorkshire Ale (read:brown ale).”

Oddly enough, we have NOT reviewed a basic brown ale here. We have done its precursor, the mild, however. According to Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster Garrett Oliver’s excellent The Brewmaster’s Table, brown ale was originally the workingman’s beer, as brown ale malts were cheaper to produce than a typical pale malt. Oliver continues, “In northern England, where people imagined themselves made of stronger stuff than affluent southerners, a hefty version of the style developed.” The split between Northern and Southern brown ales still does cut similarly along flavor profiles, with Northern a little drier and stronger than its sweet Southern cousin.

So, About this Beer: Pours deep brown with an ecru head. Tropical fruit and mineral on the aroma. Light carbonation and medium mouthfeel. Nutty roast flavors dominate, with just a soupçon of dark chocolate. Nice mineral snap on the back end, with little to no hop bitterness.

The Verdict: It’s a delightful beer, and would be so even if Becky at the Vic didn’t give me the special vessel pictured. Definitely give it a try.

The Halftime Pint: St. Peter’s Grapefruit Ale

20120930-211227.jpgOne of the greater things about watching football in America is that most matches, especially those of the EPL, are early in the morning American time, giving people an excuse to daydrink. This is part of our series discussing exactly what to drink when you’re at the pub, presented by our resident homebrewer, Keith.

The Beer: St. Peter’s Fruit Beer, St. Peter’s Brewing Company, Suffolk, England

The Pub: The Queen Vic, in Northeast DC

What you Need to Know: We covered the relatively short history of St. Peter’s Brewery, founded in 1996, back in April.

As is common with most fruit beers, this is a pale wheat beer, though unlike most wheat beers, the yeast does not seem to present any clove or banana esters, suggesting that St. Peter’s uses a regular ale yeast with a golden wheat malt bill. As a result, this is drier, and less “full” than most wheat beers as you would know them. Continue reading →

The Halftime Pint: Cain’s Bitter

20120916-231855.jpgOne of the greater things about watching football in America is that most matches, especially those of the EPL, are early in the morning American time, giving people an excuse to daydrink. This is part of our series discussing exactly what to drink when you’re at the pub, presented by our resident homebrewer, Keith.

The Beer: Cain’s Bitter, Robert Cain Brewery, Liverpool, England

The Pub: The Queen Vic, in Northeast DC

What You Need to Know: This is familiar ground for this column, on two fronts. We covered the history of the Robert Cain Brewery, which is also a major pub owner in Britain, early in the history of Four Five Two.

And the English bitter is by now known as a favorite style of the column. Cain’s slots in comfortably as a slightly under-strength Best Bitter, meaning it’s copper as opposed to straw in color, but not quite as strong as the ESB/Premium Bitter. The typical ABV for the range is also about 4.2-4.7 percent, while Cain’s comes in at an even 4. Continue reading →

The Halftime Pint: Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA

One of the greater things about watching football in America is that most matches, especially those of the EPL, areearly in the morning American time, giving people an excuse to daydrink. This is part of our series discussing exactly what to drink when you’re at the pub, presented by our resident homebrewer, Keith.

The Beer: Twisted Thistle IPA, Belhaven Brewery- Dunbar, Scotland, United Kingdom

The Pub: The Queen Vic, in Northeast DC

What You Need to Know: I’ve covered the history of the Belhaven Brewery in a previous post. In that post, I also mentioned that the Scottish climate is also typically unkind to hops. Brewers of old in Scotland would then use whatever was handy to spice or preserve their beers- so Scottish brewers would often use thistle or heather. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case with this beer; it’s just a clever name. But there are breweries in Scotland that still use heather for their beers. We’ll get to them at some point.

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The Halftime Pint: Black Sheep Ale

20120826-230940.jpgOne of the greater things about watching football in America is that most matches, especially those of the EPL, are early in the morning American time, giving people an excuse to day drink. This is part of our series discussing exactly what to drink when you’re at the pub, presented by our resident homebrewer, Keith

The Beer: Black Sheep Ale, Black Sheep Brewery, Masham, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom

The Pub: The Queen Vic, in northeast DC

What You Need to Know: Black Sheep Brewery was founded in 1992 by Paul Theakston, who is six generations removed from Robert Theakston, the founder of Theakston’s Brewery, best known for its Old Peculier Old Ale. Theakston left the family business in 1988, not long after Matt Brown had taken over the brewery and subsequently sold it to Scottish and Newcastle. He set the new brewery up in what used to be the malting building at the family’s old rival, Lightfoot’s Brewery, and was able to continue brewing in Masham. Consequently, four of Paul’s brothers restored Theakston’s to family control in 2004, and so the family continues its brewing tradition in the Yorkshire Dales. Continue reading →

The Halftime Pint: Marston’s Oyster Stout

20120820-083717.jpgOne of the greater things about watching football in America is that most matches, especially those of the EPL, are early in the morning American time, giving people an excuse to day drink. This is part of our series discussing exactly what to drink when you’re at the pub, presented by our resident homebrewer, Keith

The Beer: Marston’s Oyster Stout, Marston’s Brewery, Burton-Upon-Trent, England

The Pub: The Queen Vic, in northeast DC

What You Need to Know: We’ve covered the basics of the stout style here before; one of the more fun additions that a brewer can make to a stout, however, is oyster shell.  Depending on the brewer, either whole shells or crushed shells are joined with the beer during a secondary round of fermentation.  In some cases, this can lead to an overpowering oyster flavor, whereas other stouts will only get a mild hint of mineral flavor (likely salts, which are perfectly common in English ales). Continue reading →

The Halftime Pint: DC Brau Your Favorite Foreign Movie

20120807-111123.jpgOne of the greater things about watching football in America is that most matches, especially those of the EPL, are early in the morning American time, giving people an excuse to daydrink. This is part of our series discussing exactly what to drink when you’re at the pub, presented by our resident homebrewer, Keith

The Beer: Your Favorite Foreign Movie, DC Brau, Washington, DC

The Pub: Smith Commons, in Northeast DC

What You Need to Know: I’ve gone into the history of DC Brau before in this column- it was the first of a handful of new breweries in DC to publicly release beer brewed on its own premises. The story of YFFM is pretty unique, though. In establishing itself in the District, DC Brau took care to cultivate relationships with the major “beer geek” bars in DC. One such bar, Meridian Pint, in an effort to tie itself closer to DC’s beer culture, held (roughly) quarterly homebrew competitions, which would culminate in a Tournament of Champions where the winners would re-brew their winning beers and face off for a limited audience. The premise was simple: have about 20 brewers sign up, fill up the downstairs bar on a weeknight, and promote homebrewing in DC. DC Brau latched onto this competition, and decided to offer the ultimate prize: the ToC winner’s beer would be brewed at DC Brau, and released to the public. (Full disclosure: I entered the last of these before the ToC, but my vanilla coffee stout did not get the votes to carry on)

DC Homebrewers Club member (full disclosure: I am also a member) Brian Barrows won, with a Belgian Patersbier, though the votes were close enough that runner-up Mike Reinitz will also get to brew his robust porter with DC Brau’s equipment and expertise. During the brew session, DC Brau played some Steely Dan on the stereo, and so the name was taken from the closing line from the song “Peg.” Continue reading →

The Halftime Pint: Kronenbourg 1664

One of the greater things about watching football in America is that most matches, especially those of the EPL, are early in the morning American time, giving people an excuse to daydrink. This is part of our series discussing exactly what to drink when you’re at the pub, presented by our resident homebrewer, Keith.  During the Euros, we’re doing things a little differently; we’re trying to find beers from the countries participating in the tourney.  We’ve covered England and Sweden, this week, it’s another eliminated nation, France!

The Beer: Kronenbourg 1664, Brasseries Kronenbourg, Obernai, France

The Pub: The Queen Vic, in Northeast DC

What You Need to Know: Euro Pale Lager is the European equivalent of American Light Lager.  Think Stella, think Heineken, think Tennent’s, think Harp.  But, as with the ALL, there’s room to do an excellent version.  Samuel Smith, for example, has an organic lager that’s quite good.  The style is highly carbonated, light in color and flavor, and has a bit more hop snap than its American cousin.  It’s actually a lot closer to the Munich Helles Lager, with just a bit less sweetness, and I’d say that Kronenbourg more closely straddles the gaps between EPL (Suck it, Barclays! . . oops, force of habit) and Helles Lager. Continue reading →

The Halftime Pint: Ommegang BPA

Move over, Disney. This is the real happiest place on Earth. (credit: Tripadvisor.com)

The Beer: BPA, Brewery Ommegang, Cooperstown, New York

The Pub: Iron Horse Taproom, in Northwest DC

What you need to know: Belgian Pale Ale is the “lawnmower beer” of the most complex beer culture in the Western world. According to Beer Advocate’s writeup of the style, it was originally developed after World War II for Belgian brewers to compete with the widely spreading Czech pilsner. That said, it’s not too far off of an English or American Pale Ale in flavor or color. However, the fruity characteristics typical of a Belgian yeast combined with the relative simplicity of grain bill give it just that twinge of distinction.

Brewery Ommegang is a farmhouse brewery situated on 136 rolling acres in the old hop belt of America, Central New York. The brewery was founded in 1997, and was purpose-built for brewing Belgian-style ales. This is one of the few breweries reviewed here that I’ve actually visited, and I can honestly say that it’s one of the happiest places on Earth. The Brewery sold controlling interest to Duvel in 2003, but their Belgian overlords allow them free reign to brew as they like, and so they still brew their lineup of 6 year-round Belgian-style ales with about a dozen seasonal special ales. The BPA, in fact, began as a seasonal ale before going full-time last year.

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