British Beer Day 2017

Didn't know about this. Looks like I'll be having a Fuller's ESB tonight, along with a Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout. I really enjoy the English beer styles and their typical balance and maltiness. I only wish we saw some more English Milds in the states. I've yet to find any.

 

Just as a matter of technicality, today is Beer Day Britain, a national (UK) celebration of the national drink, replete with festivals and special offerings. I suppose it is natural for those of us stateside who want to join the fun to do so by tipping a beer from the UK (since that's almost certainly what they would be doing), but what an opportunity this would be for US venues to really join the celebration by throwing a do featuring only UK beers, special imports and *gasp*...casks!

I've had many a decent pint in the UK, love most traditional styles (and traditional ways of making them), and wish that we would see more interest in these subtle beauties here in the states.

Tonight for me it'll be Adnams Tally-Ho Reserve. Now where's that Timothy Taylor when you need him?

 

Oh man, if I'd known about this sooner I definitely would have picked something up. But I probably won't get out of work until local bottle shops are closed. I DO have a 2012 J.W. Lees Harvest Ale (Calvados), but I was holding onto that for the return of cold weather. What to do?

 

Only found out recently it's on this date as


"Beer Day Britain is on June 15th and that is also the date Magna Carta was sealed in 1215. Article 35 of the great charter stated:

Let there be throughout our kingdom a single measure for wine and a single measure for ale and a single measure for corn, namely the London quarter.

Ale was so important in England in 1215 that it was mentioned in one of the most significant legal documents in history. Today beer and pubs are still central to British life."

- from the beer day britain website.

fwiw I'm having a piraat triple hop, so letting the side down

 

I like several of the Samuel Smith stouts, notably Organic Chocolate and Oatmeal. If their chocolate stout tasted like it smelled, it would be my favorite. It smells like hot chocolate or cocoa, rather than beer. Their beers would taste better if they ditched their precious Tadcaster well water, or at least filtered out the bitter minerals. Nobody told me about there being such a day, so I am unprepared, don't have one on hand.

 

In honor of U.K. Beer day I'm drinking a Stewart's Elysium II (yes I know it's Scottish, but in the spirit of national unity I'll allow it.)

Picked this up last summer on vacation, and it's really developed nicely. Whiskey mixes with the imperial stout in a much different way than the bourbon I'm more used to.