English Ale appreciation

Their US importer, Total Beverage Solutions, has a "Product Finder".

 

Well, I'm talking about *reputable* customers -- not those who've been tippling the malt with their bitter.

 

Seems like all the OSH I see is nitro can or clear glass -- at crazy prices.

And dusty.

 

Can't say I've even seen it in awhile. (But my most frequently visited stores are lousy for imports - but that's becoming more and more common. Need shelf space for seltzers and for the strawberry jelly, peanut butter and avocado sours, I guess).

Hmm... and probably too late and not thick enough to prevent it from becoming light struck.

Reminds me of one of my favorite "beer store employee misinformation" stories:

I was buying OSH or some other UK beer packaged in clear glass bottles. I'm pretty sure I would have popped open a closed case to pull out the beer so mine hadn't been exposed to light.

Cashier: "Do you need a bag?"
JK: kinda facetiously - "Oh, yeah - it's a bright sunny day out there and I've got a long walk through the parking lot to my vehicle."
Cashier: "Oh, skunky? That's only green bottles."

Maybe she was confusing green glass with green Kyptonite?

 

A bit of a drive for you perhaps, but you asked.
The Copper Vine
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26277/

The Beverage Company
https://thebeveragecompany.com/

 

Where is @marquis with all this talk aboot cask ales?

 

One of my locals (Forest and Main) just opened their new taproom with 3 beer engines; can’t wait to get in there tonight for some proper bitter and mild.

 

Ask them if they're truly cask-conditioning* -- you can pour anything from a beer engine.

I knew one place that was doing that after their more experienced brewmaster left.

*If you can get a knowledgeable answer, that is.

 

These guys are absolutely cask conditioning....its a large part of their business.

 

You should see if you can get some pics of their tapping set up.

 

My wife and I visited the new Forest & Main taproom (Pub) location last evening. The bartender informed me that this new location is only a week+ old (opened Tuesday Nov. 9th). He also informed me that they will soon be opening a new brewery location on Main Street with expanded production capacity. You can read more here (an old May article):

https://www.bizjournals.com/philade...-craft-brewery-forest-and-main-to-expand.html

I did have a conversation with the bartender whether the beers served via hand-pump are indeed cask conditioned (i.e., secondary fermentation within the serving keg) and he informed me that those beers are indeed cask conditioned.

Firstly, a short report about this new location. It is a pretty cool space and it does indeed provide a pub-like feel. Below is a photo of the bar:



Last evening they had three English style ales served via cask (hand-pump delivery): Bitter, Dark Mild, and Oatmeal Stout.

They also have three Lukr side-pull taps serving two lagers (Pilsners) and a Saison.

In addition, there were seven beers served via ‘regular’ draft.

There is also beer refrigerators where a number of brands are available in the four-pack/16 ounce format (about a dozen brands) and a number of brands in large bottles.

A quite impressive diversity of brands IMO.

My first beer was a pint of the Bitter Ale:



Here is how Forest & Main discusses this beer:

“Earthen Timescales - 4.14% Bitter Brewed with Maris Otter and crystal malt, hopped with Perle and Grungeist, and fermented with our favourite old British ale yeast. It’s got notes of cherry jam on wheat toast, citrus and chicory salad, delicate caramel whispers, and a cold slice of thick apple pie.”

I enjoyed drinking this beer but for my palate this beer would be improved with some more hop flavor/aroma to provide a more balanced product.

The second beer for me was a Dimpled Mug of the Dark Mild:



“Sonic Silence - 4% Dark Mild Brewed this one with Maris Otter and a fun assortment of dark and roasted malts and hopped it with a bit of Fuggles and Polaris. It has notes of pumpernickel, dried fig, old library books, black currant jam, coffee over ice, and some homemade biscuits.”

I really enjoyed the aroma and flavor of this beer but the mouthfeel was quite thin and lacking. Overall a good – very good beer.

My primary motivation for going to Forest & Main was to drink the English Ales on cask but while there I figured I would try one of their lagers (the first time I had a Forest & Main lager I believe) so I ordered the House Lager served via the Lukr side-pull tap:



“House Lager - 4.8% Lager Brewed with German barley, hopped it with Saaz, Grungeist, and Hallertau Blanc, and fermented it slow and cold. It has notes of crispy apple strudel, dry sparkling pear cider, hale bales at the farm-chic store, nettle tisane, and a parched herb garden.”

Now, this beer was a ‘winner’ for me (my personal palate). It was quite tasty and very nicely balanced between the bready malt aroma/flavor and the hop aroma/flavors. I will most definitely revisit this beer in a subsequent visit.

My wife ordered glasses of two IPA brands and I took some sips of her beers. I thought these IPAs were very good!

Cheers to the new Forest & Main taproom/pub!!

@rolltide8425 @rotsaruch @ESHBG @jts211

 

Lost colony brewing company in Manteo, North Carolina has a lovely English ipa. I was very pleasantly surprised when we went there. The steak sandwiches arent half bad too! The outer Banks in general have a lot of English ipas at the few breweries they have, so you would be good there

 

Wow, that looks my ideal pub, LOVE it.

Only thing is, I prefer my beers with less "old library book" notes.

 

I was visiting family in VT recently and of course did some beer shopping. I was surprised how many English bitters and milds I saw on the shelf from brewers in VT, NH, and ME. I came back to PA with more of those than NEIPAs in car trunk. Historically, many craft beer trends incubated in New England before breaking out to the rest of the US... If this is a sign of what's to come, then I am looking forward to it!

FYI, if folks are in the Burlington, VT area and looking for more than IPAs you should really check out Queen City Brewing and Black Flannel Brewing (in Essex). In addition to a nice mild, Black Flannel had the first grodziskie style beer I have ever seen on tap. Good stuff!

 

Randy, as I read this part of your post I was reminded of the first Grodziskie beer I saw (and drank) on tap. It was 2013 at the Manayunk Brewpub; I started a thread about this beer:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/my-first-grodziskie-polish-smoked-wheat-beer.97284/

At a later date I ran into the head brewer of Manayunk of that time at a Yards Real Ale beer festival and pestered him with a bunch of Grodziskie brewing questions (which he answered fully and politely) and afterwards I homebrewed my first Grodziskie. I vowed to brew a Grodziskie again when I could locate a Grodziskie yeast strain. I have yet to find one but I have not given up hope.

On a Smoked beer related note I visited Root Down this past Friday and I drank a Smoked Helles they brewed; a very tasty beer.

Cheers!

@rotsaruch

 

I miss the British-inspired beers of Arcadia from Michigan, particularly the cask-conditioned ales that showcased their malt.

 

Me too, seeing as how they were my home brewery when they were in Battle Creek. However, shortly before their demise I happened to look at their website description of their IPA and discovered that they were using American hops. I don't miss them anymore.

 

When I began drinking craft beer in the 1980's, the few microbreweries that did exist made a lot of English style ales. So you might say, I cut my teeth on English-style milds, English-style bitters and English-style browns. But at that time, we were still getting a lot of English imports in my area.

I'm with you. It'd be nice to see a dark mild ale revival. I don't see it happening on a wide scale though because the market still seems to want hazy or hopped-up IPAs, ciders, and seltzers.

 

Hidden River made some fine dark milds.