Mayflower Brewing release party

Really enjoyed the Mayflower IPA on cask and Thanksgiving Ale on tap at BBC Pembroke last night. The Turkey Sliders were awesome. Goodness!

This Old New England Beer Examiner examines the new Old London Pubs IV

This Old New England Beer Examiner examines the new Old London Pubs IV

This is a series of my impressions of the very highest rated London Pubs according to CAMRA, Cask Marque, Time Out London and ViewLondon.com (along with some other very pleasant surprises along the way)

See part one for the criteria for a New Old Pub; http://www.examiner.com/beer-in-boston/this-old-new-england-beer-examiner-examines-the-new-old-london-pubs

Porterhouse – 21 Maiden Lane Covent Garden London

This 3 level Dublin-based pub is one of the largest boozers, area-wise, that I’ve had the pleasure to visit during my on-going London Pub Crawl series. It was awarded the CAMRA/English Heritage award for conversion to pub use in 2002.

Neatly tucked away on narrow Maiden Lane, you first come upon a large garden patio (smokers paradise) preceding the fancy pants double-door entrance. The doors lead to a dramatically vast interior anchored by an immense wooden L bar. It’s sort of like stepping inside a massive old wooden ship that a band of flamboyant, beer-loving pirates invaded, and then decorated.

The stairway down to the left leads to the basement level where the restrooms (more on them later), TVs and an entertainment stage are the focus. To the left of the bar, a wide stairway leads to a quite foyer nook halfway up the stairs. The top level provides you a more spacious seating area. Extensive (and expensive) wood and brass-trimmed brewery-related piping and plating run throughout. Even the hanging light fixtures are brass-trimmed. A very cool brass clock hangs over the upstairs balcony and can be viewed from most any place in the top floors. The wall nooks and windows are lined with Porterhouse beer bottles and knick knacks. It must be a bitch to keep clean!

It’s a bit cluttered. I’m trying to spy the tap handles, but all the little doodads and bric-a-brac catch my eyes, forcing me once again to concentrate on the task at hand…deciding which beer to try next.

The seating choices are varied enough to suite any individual or group needs. Hang out near the bar on simple wooden stools, or relax upon cushioned leather armchairs and/or coach-style benches, or just stand around gawking, beer in hand. Choice is yours. Enjoy your surroundings early in the day, before the after work crowd arrives…unless you enjoy mob scenes. In that case, arrive at 7pm (1900) on a Friday night.

The on tap selections are brewed mostly by Porterhouse and poured under pressure. There are always a couple of “Real” ales and guest beers (Erdinger on this day) available. I can highly recommend the Plain Porter and the Turner’s Sticklebract Bitter on cask. Lovely stuff! There are plenty of bottled selections from the wonderful world of Beerdom plus a solid selection of wines and mixed drinks for the folks not very interested this article.

The food menu is fairly extensive. A mix of pizza, burgers, fish & chips, standard Irish and gastro-pub food is available. The best option might be the fresh Rock Oysters. ½ dozen for 7 pounds is a very fair deal by London standards.

Now to the restrooms as promised; My wife felt a little uncomfortable going to the lady’s room because a group of guys were hanging out by the door. We’re sure they meant no harm, but creating a little separation between the restrooms and the lounge area would be smart.

All-in-all, an interesting pub with a bounty of very good beers to try.

Place Porterhouse on your ‘Should’ visit London Pub list.

Cheers!

Quote: “For every wound, a balm. For every sorrow, cheer. For every storm, a calm.

For every thirst, a beer” – Unknown Irish Author

Maine Brewing Company - Lunch

American IPA 12 oz. dark brown bottle. Bottled date 10-25-11
Served in a SA perfect pint glass
It pours a hazy goldish copper color with a full 2" beige head on top along with loads of sticky and patchy lacing.
A smell of pink grapefruit rises at once, followed by smells of bready malt, lemon zest, mixed fruit and whiff of gin in the vapors.
The flavors are juicy and citrusy up front. Slightly sweetened grapefruit, zesty limes, resinous hops roll around in a pool of creamy caramel malt. Minor tastes of pine, pepper and herbal mint peek in the finish. A little alcoholic fuminess is felt more than tasted. You're aware of its presence, but not confronted by it.
This is, at the moment my very favorite IPA! Incredible IPA!

Mayflower Brewing release party

Mayflower will release its Thanksgiving Ale (on CASK!!!) this Sat. @ British Beer Company in Pembroke, MA. Nov 14, 2011 - 4 - 7pm.
Members of the Brewery will be on hand, pint giveaways, awesome beer themed food specials and more! In addition we will be tapping a cask that is a collaboration of the skilled brewers of Mayflower and the Management staff of the BBC.
We brewed this delicious IPA together and its Awesome!
Giant Turkey Legs will be available to munch!

Beer style of the week; English Strong Ale

Week 38

Brrrrr! Fall’s racing to winter and now’s the time to rummage around in the cellar for some robust, body-warming beers. If we can resist reaching for the really big ABV guns like Barley Wines for now, the English Strong Ales are the perfect “tweener” beer to bridge the seasons and mildly thaw our chilled extremities.

Any English Strong Ale worthy of the adjective, “strong” should be in the 6.2% – 8% ABV range. Any lower and it doesn’t really provide the warming effect, any stronger it becomes a Barley Wine or strong “Old Ale” (both are on the waiting list for style of week).

Dark copper to deep amber in color, malty backbone, dark fruit esters, and varying degrees of hoppiness and alcoholic profiles are the norm. As with most beer styles there are some conflicting variables, and nowadays that is the new norm.

From the land of origin

Fuller’s 1845 – Fuller Smith and Turner PLC – London, England – 6.3%

Sturdy brown 16.9oz brown bottle. Best Before Date.

It pours a dark teak with an orange tint. The medium-sized head dissipates slowly and leaves behind some patchy and trailing lace.

The aroma is mostly a big sweet malty one. Some woody notes peek through, as does a light smell of chocolate. A hint of rummy alcohol and vanilla extract is noticed.

The malt has a taste reminiscent of French toast. Toffee and chocolate flavors are quite pronounced. A woody taste is constantly in the background.

The sharp citrus bitterness is slightly tempered by a pear-like fruitiness.

This brew has a unique dual mouthfeel. It is at once sharp-edged with a restrained rawness to it. At the same time, there is a civilized balance and rounded sweet smoothness.

This is one of those rare brews that taste more alcoholic than it actually is. I would have guessed 8%ABV.

Young’s Special London Ale – Wells & Young’s – Bedford, England – 6.4% ABV

16.9oz brown bottle. Best before date stamped on bottle.

Listed as a Strong Bitter, it stills fits the English Strong style very well.

It pours a deep amber color with a medium-sized off-white head and some trails and sticky lace.

The aroma is a harmonious blend of lightly roasted malt and citrus hops, with a faint smell of tea in the background.

The full malt body has flavors of fresh bread dough and sweet caramel.

A delightful taste of fresh flowery hops.

This is a rich and complex brew, though all of the flavors are reserved and subdued. Well balanced! Very tasty and the flavor lasts!

Innis and Gunn Highland Cask – Edinburgh, Scotland – 7.1% ABV

11.2 oz. clear glass bottle (wrong!) Served in a standard pint glass.

Poured a coppery amber color with a fast-fading off-white head.
Smells off cut dried wood, caramel, dry malt, resinous hop followed by peaty scotch.

Flavors of caramel malt, wheat crackers, resinous and metallic hops mix. The cask whiskey taste pulls through in the finish.

The body, quite dry at first, mellows and becomes smooth and velvety as it warms.

This HAS to be marked down because of the clear glass bottles. The brewers must not respect their own beer.

New England

Geary’s Hampshire Special – DL Geary’s – Portland, Maine – 7% ABV

This was a winter seasonal - Must Try! Now available year-round.

Deep golden bronze/amber with a tint of red. Very complex dry robust malt with a trace of sweetness. Powerfully hopped, then dry hopped for good measure. The maltiness rolls forward throughout the glass and begins to reveals a trace of berries and some smoothness. An unusual, but nice pine essence is long lasting. The alcohol is noticed, though not overly so. The creamy beige head lingers and nice lace is formed. As with all of D.L. Geary’s brews, there’s sort of a raw wildness, like Maine itself. It’s easy to picture a Norman Rockwell Maine coast pub scene in winter where the cheerful patrons are toasting one another with a frosty mug of Hampshire Special. Now that really warms the heart! BTW – Hampshire Special pairs really well with hearty stews. Try braising a roast with this ale in place of Burgundy wine.

Pretty Things November 15^th, 1901 KK – Pretty Things Ale & Beer Project – Westport Mass. 7.8% ABV

22oz dark brown bottle. No Freshness date, although the legend on the label suggests cellaring.

Served in a nonic pint glass. From a recipe brewed on 11/15/1901

It pours a very deep dark smoky cola color with a firm and rocky tannish head and loads of lacing.

The smell is a little here and there. Burnt rye toast, grapefruit zest, coffee and bread dough is followed by a slightly astringent camphor and witch-hazel fuminess.

I like the overall flavor mix, although it reminds me of several homebrews I have sampled over the years. The citrusy and metallic hops are surprisingly up front. A resinous hop taste is always present, yet mild. Burnt sugar and rye crackers tastes follow and some warming alcohol is in the finish.

The mouthfeel is a tad raspy though not enough to keep me from taking some large gulps now and then.

Interesting brew!

Cheers!

Next week; Old Ale (Stronger Old Ale)

Quote: “We old folks have to find our pillows and cushions in our tankards. Strong beer is the milk of the old” – Martin Luther, 1483 - 1546k of the old."
-Martin Luther

This Old New England Beer Examiner examines the new Old London Pubs III

This is a series of my impressions of the very highest rated London Pubs according to CAMRA, Cask Marque, Time Out London and ViewLondon.com (along with some other very pleasant surprises along the way)

See part one for the criteria for a New Old Pub; http://www.examiner.com/beer-in-boston/this-old-new-england-beer-examiner-examines-the-new-old-london-pubs

My wife, Kathy and I set out from Boston with the plan to meet with eleven friends from five different countries, nine whom we’ve never actually met in person (just Face Book) to attend a play at The Hampstead Theater. The job of finding a place where we could all meet beforehand fell on me (I wouldn’t have it any other way) It turns out several worthy pubs were within walking distance of the theater, but only one kept jumping out at me as the best option for such a large, diverse group, where we could have a an attractive, authentic pub space to stretch out in and chat comfortably before the play. Oh, and I might mention The Washington was listed on CAMRA and Cask Marque as having cask-conditioned beer as well as several varieties of beer and cider tap selections. Like a crow to glass beads, I’m attracted to real pubs.

The Washington, www.thewashingtonhampstead.co.uk is a straight walk down Eton Ave off the Swiss Cottage Tube station exit. The Hampshire Theater will be to your right. Past the theater about four blocks down, you will see The Washington come into view at a busy 4 way crossing.

Stop for a moment to admire the subtly-Victorian building. The light pastel cream and green-trimmed exterior doesn’t catch the eye as much as it soothes the eye. Hanging flowers adorn the entry. A framed portrait of Washington (not George) keeps watch over the intersection below.

Step inside. Glance around to see if you might recognize any of your old and/or Face Book friends. But Oooo, spy the lovely pump handles atop the sturdy u-shaped oaken bar. Tap handles to either side are

spaced so that you can read them without straining your neck. Take in the cool chandeliers and the fancy etched mirrors and cozy, comfy seating arrangements. Check out the fancy logo tile work. Now THIS is a PUB!

Our friends hadn’t yet arrived, so it was a fine time to peruse the cask handles. I asked the young man behind the bar about a few of the selections. He admitted that he was in his first night on the job and would get someone more experienced to assist me. Rather than bullshitting, he was trained to defer to someone who actually knew the beer. This was a good sign.

A lovely woman bartender answered my questions and gave proper advice on which beers to try first. Examining my perfect pint, Landlord, Kate Tidey came over and introduced herself. This pub is run by Kate and her husband Terry Tidey, the great, great, great grandson of the original 1865 owner. The pride and care for the place and its history is evident throughout.

Our group finally arrived and we spent the next hour catching up and sampling the lovely beers in a roomy corner nook large enough for 12.

The Washington has a downstairs bar where music, quizzes and comedy nights take place, but it’s the upstairs bar that has captivated our group.

On the night we visited, Timothy Taylor Landlord, UBU Purity, Oakleaf IPA, Sharp’s Doombar and Itchen Valley Godfather’s were the delightful cask options. As mentioned, there’s also a fair selection of ciders plus an assortment of familiar Euro taps.

A mighty fine pub, The Washington!

Cheers!

Beer style of the week; Bockbier

Week 37

Back in May I covered Double Bock, a beer meant for cool spring evenings. This week, I bring you a slightly more gulpable beer that is nearly the perfect brew to accompany, or even added as an enriching ingredient to a fall stew on a chilly, damp night.

Bock is an old style German Lager, which probably found its way out into the public via German monasteries, where monks brewed big-bodied beers with substantial amounts of barley to get them through times of fasting. Full-bodied is normal, syrupy or cloying is completely wrong for the style (see Michelob Amber Bock below). The name “bock” may stem from beers from Einbeck, Germany (shortened to beck), or it may be rooted in pagan times where the Capricorn Goat (Bock) was seen as a sign of spring and the departure of winter. The Bock myth does make the ground hog myth look a little sad by comparison.

Today many Bocks are brewed year round. They come in many different shades and colors and varying strengths. Same goes for Double Bock.

Land of Origin

Mahr’s Christmas Bock – Bamberg, Germany – 6% ABV

This is my first and only Christmas Bock, thus far. What is it to be compared to?

It pours a deep amber with a thin off-white head and some trails of lace. An initial malty aroma fades rather quickly. A Euro-hop smell picks up where the malt fades. A distant, yet constant earthy smell remains throughout. At first swallow, the malt body seems a little thin for the winter-type style, but as it warms, more malty characteristics are revealed. A little sweet caramel and lots fresh baked bread favors begin to assert themselves. The hops possess a metallic bite and just a hint of limey bitterness. This brew sweetens and displays a lightly herbal character late in the glass. All in all a pretty good winter brew.

It can be compared to (distantly) Young's Winter Warmer…if Young’s was a lagered Bock instead of an ale.

Einbecker Ur-Bock – Einbeck, Germany – 6.5% ABV Initially this brew comes across as a tad unruly with alcohol the dominant presence, both in aroma and taste. By the second, third and fourth gulps the hops begin to assert themselves and take center stage. The amber/orange color stands alone in the beer world. I had to keep looking at it and holding it to different lights and upgrading my initial appearance rating. The taste is extremely complex, that too required a raise in points. The ample malt body never achieves a platform of its own. It instead plays a wonderful supporting role to the competing stars. The off white head’s performance is marvelous, though brief. Einbecker, by the way, is the inventor of the bock style. Because I was unsure of my ability to accurately rate this unusual style beer with one bottle, I found it necessary drink a second.

Scandinavia (It seems the Bock-style beers are popular in these northern climes)

Aass Bock – Aass Brewery – Drammen, Norway – 6.5% ABV

From notes: I received this from BA friend, francisweisen (now living in New Zealand). Thanks and skoal! I sampled this beer a looooong time ago, in the 70’s...before Michael Jackson began rating beer or started dangling babies from balconies, and it's just as I remembered it. Dark brown prune juice in color with a beige/tan head and slow-sliding lace. The aroma is particularly distinct with molasses, coffee, hops, and light alcohol fume. The molasses sweet malty body emits flavors of raisins and prunes and a hint of chocolate. The citrusy hops add just the right amount of bitterness for the style. Nice any season beer! Heh, heh…I want my Aass bock!

USA and New England Bocks

Michelob Amber Bock – Anheuser Busch – St. Louis, Missouri – 5.2% ABV

One of our duties as reviewers, other than enlightening our readers is to warn the unsuspecting, so here goes.

I sampled this horrible brew in 2003 at The Tiki Bar, an outdoor grill on the beach on Marco Island. Michelob was test-marketing Amber Bock in several states and it was my misfortune for having vacationed in Florida at this time. It was a sunny and balmy afternoon. Bikini clad beauties were bouncing around, showing off what they had developed over the winter (quite a distraction from my relaxed reading and quite the chore of appearing disinterested with my girlfriend's (now wife)harsh glare beating down upon the back of my neck). The smell of grilled shrimp and burgers wafted over me, exciting my remaining senses. I wandered over to the Tiki and noticed, with curious interest, Michelob Amber Bock on tap. Hmmm! How bad could it be? Well, despite my most excellent surroundings and laissez-faire attitude, the answer, to be kind is disgusting!

Flat dark tan in color and rapidly vanishing off-white head. Sweet sugary malt and soaked corncob aroma. The pasty-mealy, cloying malt is difficult to swallow. This bland, sweet tasting, lightly hopped beer is in keeping with the A-B tradition of marketing over quality brewing techniques. Again A-B had the opportunity to enter the craft brew market by brewing a really fine bock beer. They chose instead, the road of mass-produced-type swill and major advertising campaigns. Argh! In case you’re still interested, the rest of my vacation went very well despite A-B’s attempt to ruin it.

Samuel Adams Winter Lager – Boston Beer Company – Boston, Massachusetts – 5.6% ABV

Served in a standard pint glass.
It pours a dark ruby-hued amber color with a solid 2" beige head and plenty of web and trailing lacing.
The first smell is sweet wet malt and nut bread. A light whiff of mixed fruit cup with a hint of nutmeg and peppery spice follows.
If there was a liquid honey granola bar, this would be the recipe, less a mild taste of white rum and raisins.
A bit of of lime-like citrus taste pulls through in the aftertaste.
All in all, a solid Bock...not spectacular...but a solid brew.

Should Try

Goats Peak Bock – Paper City Brewery – Holyoke, Massachusetts – ABV Unknown

Cold weather is on the way. Don’t balk at Bock.

Quote: "No matter how rich you are, you can still only drink 17 to 18 liters of beer a day." - Anonymous German nobleman