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.

Linky

Timothy Taylors Landlord Bitter 2

After several pints of Summer Lightning at The Gunmakers, I returned to the Coach and Horses just down the street for a late one. Not much has changed and the beer is as good as ever. You can read about my last adventure there here.

While I was in The Gunmaker, the guy who runs show mentioned that he normally has TTLB as his house ale. I'll probably get back down there for a cheeky Friday lunch pint tomorrow!

BTW, has anybody been to the new pub in Leather Lane, the Sir Christopher Hatton? It used to be a Goose (read 'Spoons like), but has recently been refurbed. The sales girls have just run in all excited behind me and are about to 'Hit it up' - young male patrons, beware!.

Hobgoblin

Seeking my regular Friday evening Thai food fix, I headed around to my local "The Old Parr's Head" in desperate need of some Pad Thai. The usual Ale suspect here is Pride, and its usually not kept well either. This doesn't worry me much as they have an excellent continental lager selection, as well as Guinness, Leffe and Hoegaarden to round out the ales. The first thing I noticed as I walked through the door was my Irish mate behind the bar, grinning from ear to ear. He had been waiting three days for me to come in so he could show me his latest addition to the bar - Hobgolblin (5.2% abv) from the Wychwood Brewery. He was even excited to show me the branded pint glasses! The Hobgoblin was in excellent condition as was the London Pride, and I suspect that they have started keeping the beer under CO2 (a big CAMRA no no, but really a sensible move) via a cask aspirator.

Hobgoblin is described as a Ruby beer, although it broadly falls into the style of Extra Special Bitter or ESB. It is similar to Fuller's ESB or Neame's Bishop's Finger in style and went down a treat. I think its reassuring that the quality of this beer has not gone downhill since Wychwood was acquired ultimately by Marston's last year. http://www.hobgoblinbeer.com/

Fullers ESB 2

Fullers ESB is a top class ale. It's famous for its awesome taste and even for its yeast strain (White labs WLP002 for all you brewers, Wyeast also have it as 1962). I had the pleasure of introducing my Dad who is a hardcore VB or Guinness man to the delights of ESB recently at one of my favourite pubs in London - The Victoria, W2.

Fuller's launched ESB in 1971 as a winter replacement for Old Burton Extra and added it to the regular lineup due to its great success and an overwhelming demand. the beer is quite strong for a draught beer, weighing in at an impressive 5,5% abv, but then this malt monster needs a high gravity to balance the level of bitterness and flavour. The beer is one of the most awarded brews in history, winning its first CAMRA gong in 1978 and pretty much every other mantle possible since. I am going to make a confession that I actually prefer the bottled version of the beer as its slightly more carbonated, but the pint they serve at the Victoria has me guessing again.

The volume of ale they dispense over the bar at The Victoria has to be seen to believed. I don't think the beer remains in the cellar long enough to spoil and the bar staff are friendly and encouraging in the ways of the ale! the food there is pretty good too! definitely check out The Victoria if you are around Paddington way, and have a pint of ESB for me. You can read my previous ESB inspired ramblings here. You can also find some Fuller's ticker like tasting notes at their website here.

Bishop's Finger 2

My mate Rich had birthday drinks at the Betsy Trotwood (a Shepherd Neame house) the week before last and even in my time poor state I managed to scramble along for a couple of pints. My tipple of choice on this evening was Bishop's Finger (abv 5.4%) a lovely Kentish Strong Ale that had been kept in excellent condition. The beer is roughly in the style of an ESB, although I would argue that the beer has a lot more compolexity than other beers in this style. The service at the pub was a little irratic, and I assume the staff were not regulars but they still got the beer out to all the punters. Bishop's Finger can be of mixed meanings in the Clerkenwell area, as there is also a pub by the same name up by Smithfields market. Bishops Finger (the beer) also has a few perculiarities tied with it such as the beer having its own charter for brewing! Apparently the charter states that the beer can only be brewed on Fridays, and then only tby the head brewer in a Russian teak mash tun! It's also the only beer in the world that can claim the beer style 'Kentish Strong Ale', and is brewed with only ingredients sourced wirthin the UK. Keeping with the theme of recent posts, I assume its more environmentally friendly than most! Website:http://www.bishopsfinger.co.uk/

Courage Directors Bitter

Back in UK again! I enjoyed this pint of Courage Directors (4.8% abv) from a pub near St Pauls cathedral called "The Cockpit" whilst on a mini crawl with my mate Chris. The beer falls into the ESB beers style and is hardly a good example of the style, but is noteworthy none the less. The beer is a deep amber colour and has a slightly dryer taste than say Fullers ESB and a flavour profile that is quite nutty, leaning almost towards a Newcastle Brown style.

A comical event that occured on the evening is the size of my mate Chris's head. its huge and in almost toddler proportions. If you don't really believe me - see the picture below!

Fuller's ESB

What’s not to like about ESB?? I happened to have the good fortune of getting a top pint of this at a little pub of Brick Lane called ‘The Pride of Spitalfield” which is a tiny little grimy east end boozer. Despite the fact that I though I was going to get lynched because I was dressed rather nicely (having come from work) and wasn’t wearing any chav-wear this pub is OK. I proclaimed loudly that I am only here for the beer and the mob settled down a bit! ESB is a sensational beer and alongside Fuller’s London Porter round off the flagship for the Fuller’s brewery. It’s a strong beer at 5.9% and will catch up with you if you endeavour to take it on as a session beer. It is exceptionally well balanced with a strong malty profile which doesn’t overpower the firm bitterness and subtle fruitiness of the beer. Anyway I won’t write too much as I’m sure I will have more than a few of these over the course of the future!

Timothy Taylor Landlord Bitter

The final stop on our Friday night pub crawl led us to The Coach and Horses in Clerkenwell where we chose the Timothy Taylor Landlord Bitter without hesitation. Landlord is one of those beers that along with Fullers ESB tend to be the favoured beers of Tickers and home brewers, and I can understand why. The beer itself is extremely well balanced. It’s hoppy, but not overdone and has a strong malty profile. The beer itself is so well balanced that it allows all attributes of its composition shine through. I won’t rave too much, but the landlord at this pub had been kept in good condition. By this stage we were getting a little hungry and had a plate of chips with garlic mayonnaise (Aoeli or some weird French name) which was quite acidic and spoiled the last few mouthfuls of the pint. All in all it was a good pub crawl!