English Ale appreciation

Yeah, why the hell not? I'm all for more styles to keep things varied, especially styles that are easily sessionable. I haven't had too many English ales, but that's where my mind goes for easy drinking; ESBs and the like

I guess that makes you HogsheadHorseheadsHophead

 

Right with ya on this, May all of America soon discover (re-discover?) the impeccable flavors and delicious drinkability of English Ales.

 

Dear brewers,

Take the pedal off of the beers on the IPA spectrum and try your hand at English Dark Milds. Thanks.

K

 

Definitely a fan of ritish beers in general. English ales like the Bitter, Mild, etc. Irish stout, Scottish Shilling series... we just don't get enough of them around here.
And especilly on cask - we're lucky in the Northeast to have NERAX (well, not so much with "all this" going on, but usually...) It's by far my favorite fest I've ever been to.

 

Was a time, maybe 15/20 years ago, English ales -- especially cask-conditioned, were all the rage.

Around here different pubs were doing their best to bring in firkins and pins from England and the micros that were brewing them. Brewpubs we're trying their hands at cask-conditioning and you'd see beer engines in a lot of pubs.

My home-brew club was big into English ales and took annual trips to England as pilgrimage. The Real Ale Festival in Chicago was a big event for a long time from the late 90s thru the 2000s.

So yeah, bring back the good ol' days! Just shows how trends come and go, I guess.

"A pint of Bitter wouldn't be a burden!"

 

I recently tried my first ESB, Parliament by Bravo Brewing of scenic Pascoag R.I. This small brewery makes excellent Ales and Lagers with a focus on Euro styles. They offer an English Pale Ale called Union Jack that was a big hit as well as an English Porter named Blue Falcon. The also do German styles with equal precision.

This is one rare example however hopefully more will follow.

I would like to see more Eng. Brown Ales, not too many showed up for last weekends Brown Ale tasting. Wormtown Brewery of Worcester Mass. Makes EBA called Blizzard of 78, a winter release that I look forward to.

 

I'd love to see it make its way here. Very underrepresented style that deserves respect and appreciation.

 

Imports in the stores that I frequent do not turn over very quickly, to the point that the variety selection has suffered. I gave up on imports a long time ago before label dating became a 'thing' (other than seasonals). I'll have to look at labels in these stores to see if I can determine freshness of the beers. If they are old then I'll have to look for them in better stores or for American versions during my travels and pub visits. I can say from memory that I never liked old British beers when I was in a learning mode.

 

I'd say don't hold your breath. As @steveh pointed out, the romance of English ales had its moment in craft culture, and it seems to have been on the decline ever since (same for imports). I'm seeing a small resurgence in local 16oz takes on bitter and mild, but for this to be anything more than a tiny noncommittal blip, it needs to have hardware behind it - on the brewing side and serving side. Currently, we're seeing this hardware in the realm of lager brewing... with things like horizontal tanks and side-pull taps. That's where our current old-world romance resides. Beer engines are getting retired rather than installed... and I can't imagine enough people wanting to go back to that rather than pressing on to whatever the next trend will be after this small lager phase. Back when more US brewers were doing cask ale, they had their way with it and mistreated it. That's essentially gone and all that remains are a handful of traditionalists.

 

I can't recall if my new favorite brew-pub has a beer engine, but their Best Bitter* wasn't too bad.

But yeah, their side-pull tap was flowing freely!

*Just checked their website, sure enough -- cask-conditioned. Guess they're following the traditionalists.

 

Love Hogshead 54. It is always a treat.

 

I hate to say it but I agree with Chris (@zid): "I'd say don't hold your breath."

There are still a few breweries local to me that produce English style Ales (e.g., Mild Ale, Bitter Ale,...) and some even serve them on cask but these beers do not move quickly. I do appreciate those breweries who are still willing to make English Ales but I suspect it is a 'labor of love' for them. I am pretty certain that the IPAs and other popular styles move waaay better for them.

FWIW, I brew my own English style ales to satisfy my urges for these sorts of beer. Recently I bottled a batch of Oatmeal Stout and a few months ago my annual batch of Bitter Ale.

Cheers!

 

Morland Old Speckled Hen is a readily available English pale ale, and it finds its way into my beer fridge from time to time.

 

Oh my goodness I need some Landlord on cask stat!

love love English ales and very much support getting more of them and more cask.

 

I've been here s few times and it's a great place to go. I'm starting to see Chin Wag showing up all over town. So just maybe it is taking off...

 

I know nothing about cask or real ale but I love yards brawler and their ESA and I’d drink nothing else ever and that’d be ok

 

A decade+ ago I would find Yards ESA on cask at several bars in Philly (and area). Now it is generally only available on 'regular' draft (I did find it once on cask at the brewery a couple/few years ago).

Cheers to ESA on cask (the good ol' days)!