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Guns Guns Guns
Guest
I’ve seen a depressing downsizing of English ale offerings in stores the past couple of years, no doubt due to their increasing costs and the popularity of less expensive, hoppier American pale ales.
I still have a preference for English ales.
I’ve never understood the appeal of pine and grapefruit flavors, extreme bitterness and harshness in a beer at the expense of a pleasant malt flavor.
London Pride is a textbook example of an English ale, though technically I’m not sure where it falls when breaking down categories.
The late, great beer writer Michael Jackson, a United Kingdom native, classified it as a bitter; others place it in the English pale ale category.
The main difference between London Pride and a typical American pale ale is the hops.
Where an American ale will many times have that piney, grapefruit hop aroma and flavor, pronounced bitterness and, more often than not, a lingering harshness at the end, Fuller’s hops are more floral, provide less bitterness and the harshness is absent.
This allows the nutty malt flavor to come to the forefront.
Bready pale malt, floral hops and a slight fruitiness quickly come through in the aroma. The flavor is light malt with a touch of caramel and nuttiness, a hint of sweetness and a bit of prickly bitterness.
The latter is not as intense as in typical American ales, but is still noticeable.
The London Pride body is smooth and light, but with a solid mouthfeel and body, and a finish that is clean and somewhat dry, with a last-minute boost of the floral hops.
For those who want a maltier, stronger version (5.9 percent ABV), there is Fuller’s ESB, which stands for Extra Special Bitter.
http://www.postcrescent.com/article...ish-ale-beer-make-London-proud?nclick_check=1
I still have a preference for English ales.
I’ve never understood the appeal of pine and grapefruit flavors, extreme bitterness and harshness in a beer at the expense of a pleasant malt flavor.
London Pride is a textbook example of an English ale, though technically I’m not sure where it falls when breaking down categories.
The late, great beer writer Michael Jackson, a United Kingdom native, classified it as a bitter; others place it in the English pale ale category.
The main difference between London Pride and a typical American pale ale is the hops.
Where an American ale will many times have that piney, grapefruit hop aroma and flavor, pronounced bitterness and, more often than not, a lingering harshness at the end, Fuller’s hops are more floral, provide less bitterness and the harshness is absent.
This allows the nutty malt flavor to come to the forefront.
Bready pale malt, floral hops and a slight fruitiness quickly come through in the aroma. The flavor is light malt with a touch of caramel and nuttiness, a hint of sweetness and a bit of prickly bitterness.
The latter is not as intense as in typical American ales, but is still noticeable.
The London Pride body is smooth and light, but with a solid mouthfeel and body, and a finish that is clean and somewhat dry, with a last-minute boost of the floral hops.
For those who want a maltier, stronger version (5.9 percent ABV), there is Fuller’s ESB, which stands for Extra Special Bitter.
http://www.postcrescent.com/article...ish-ale-beer-make-London-proud?nclick_check=1