Duchy Originals Organic Ale

A unusually warm mid Autumn day saw myself and my wife out for a stroll and some lunch along the Thames path between Hammersmith and Putney. Intending to grab some lunch we decided to pull into "The Crabtree" which is basically a gastro pub which prides itself upon calling itself, a "bar and fine dining hall". Any pub that goes into the 'above' gastro game should be offering 'above' pub level meals and 'above' pub level service. Upon going to the bar to order some potato wedges and a nachos (hardly fine dining), I was told there would be at least an hour wait on food. Now this is a pub that is trying to pass itself off as a restaurant. How would a restaurant go if it told its diners that they had to wait at least an hour for basic food? Its inexcusable - and lack of available staff or its unexpectedly busy is not an excuse. To all gastro Owners out there that suffer from this "PULL YOUR SOCKS UP". Anyhow, I managed to order a beer and a glass of wine for the Mrs.

Duchy Originals Organic Ale is an interesting beer to say the least. The beer itself is nice, an amber ale/ESB that gets the style right and ticks all the boxes, no complaints there. What is interesting is the source of organic ingredients.

A bit of background on Duchy's Originals:

Duchy Originals was started in 1990 to market the produce of the Prince of Wales all-organic farm at Highgrove. The concept of the farm was to prove (or not) the commercial viability of organic farming and if successful, to encourage others to follow suit. As if proving the profitability of organic foods were not enough, as if employing 100’s of people directly and indirectly as well as seasonal workers were not enough, the company also gives away all it’s profits to charity (the Prince of Wales charity incidentally). To date, this sum comes to millions from the 70+ products in their range. This ale is the first alcohol based product they have produced. To show how deeply the Prince and his achievements are embraced by the Organic community, the Soil association has made him their patron. Moving stuff indeed, I wondered if he offsets/deducts his donations to charity against his genuinely profit generating interests, but that's besides the point!

So the malt used in brewing comes from HRH's property, but who brews it? Prior to the brewing of this organic ale, the organic barley from Prince Charles' estate was used to make Wychwood Circle Master. This was brewed by on contract Brakspear's of Henley until they closed in Autumn 2002. After the acquisition of Brakspear's by Wychwood, and the emergence of the Duchy originals brand, HRH decided to commission Wychwood to brew Duchy Originals Organic Ale and the results in the beer you are reading about today. My only beef has more to do with the Crabtree than the beer itself. My pint was served in a plastic pint glass rather than a proper glass one. Sure the crabtree has a large beer garden, but it was hardly busy and it was even less likely to get broken. I hate drinking out of plastic and basically its unacceptable - once again the Crabtree need to get their act together. Anyway I am starting to rant. The bottom line HRH's beer is as good as his ears are big, and the Crabtree is as good as a fart in an elevator.

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