Tag Archives: English Ales

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: 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: Wells Banana Bread

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.

The Beer: Wells Banana Bread Beer, Wells and Young’s Brewing Company, Bedford, United Kingdom

The Pub: The Queen Vic, in Northeast DC

What You Need to know: I covered a great deal of both the style and the brewery’s history when I reviewed Wells Bombardier back in April. The main variation here is that, on top of the normal signifiers of an Extra Special Bitter, Wells adds bananas and spice to the beer to create a unique spin on the pub standard.

Continue reading →

The Halftime Pint: Williams Bros. Scottish Session

Credit: greatbrewers.com

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:  Scottish Session, Williams Bros. Brewing Company, Alloa, Scotland

The Pub:  The Queen Vic, in Northeast DC

What you need to know: Williams Bros. is a relatively young brewer in the UK.  The brewery began out of a homebrew supply shop in 1988, with a translated version of an old Gaelic recipe for Fraoch, a beer that uses heather in place of hops (slightly different from a gruit, as the grain bill is closer to a wee heavy than a pale ale).  The titular brothers began by contract brewing Fraoch and three other historical recipes as Heather Ale Ltd., before moving into their  own digs in Craigmill in 1998.  In 2004, in need of larger spaces, the Williams Bros. took over the Forth brewery in Alloa, where they put their own name on the bottle and began to brew more modern styles of beer.

Golden Ale is a close cousin of the English Pale Ale covered in past editions; the lone differences are in the color, which is slightly less amber than a true pale ale. But we’re talking by a matter of degrees here.  In reality, golden ale is somewhere between pale ale and best bitter.

Continue reading →