I've been drinking quite a bit of ordinary brown beer over the last couple of months. It started with a trawl of my local supermarket (Morrisons), with the vague idea of trying to buy beer like a "normal" person does. Morrisons has been doing a "4 for £5.50" promotion on a good chunk of their range for a few months, and I was just curious to see what you could get for your money.
Overall, the standard of ordinary brown beer on the supermarket shelf is pretty good. Nothing I tasted was technically faulty - nothing was skunked, oxidised or infected, it was all good clean fun. There was also plenty of differentiation between these lookalike beers - they might look similar, but they all taste different, and in fact, some of them taste really good. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that there are some classics you can up on the supermarket shelf for very little money.
Bateman's, Hook Norton and Greene King all had distinctive flavour profiles that really set my memory synapses whirring, not in a Proustian sense (there you go, Adrian), but in a way that made me think "God, this ordinary brown beer is not only distinctive and classically English, but actually really tasty".
I quite like ordinary brown beer, made with ordinary malt and hops. I don't think there's any disconnect between liking a pint of ordinary brown beer and liking a glass of concentrated West Coast hop ejaculate (for the avoidance of doubt, I'm using that word as a noun, and also using it as a form of praise). I like mashed potato, and I like really spicy Thai food - they are totally different tastes and textures, but I can still tell the difference between good and bad examples of both. Actually, I'm a sucker for all Thai food, good or bad, but I can definitely make some of the best mashed potato you've ever eaten.
There's a place for everything in the omnivorous drinker's fridge, and actually, liking one can sometimes help you understand why you like the other. Try it - you might like it too.
(TRANSPARENCY STATEMENT: I visited Greene King last year, and they showed me around the brewery, and arranged a tasting of their entire output, including Old 5X and BPA (the constituents of Strong Suffolk Vintage), plus some soon-to-be-released new beers. They sent me away with a couple of dozen freebies, some of which fuelled this post)
Oi, I’ve trademarked Proustian and am about to do the same with Hemingwayesque when we talk about IPAs (and then there’s McGahernesque and Burgessian) ;-)
ReplyDeleteM & S own branded stuff is extremely good, various brewers are involved. The Dry Irish Stout, Yorkshire Bitter and Lincolnshire Bitter are pretty good. Ordinary Brown Beer is one of my faves providing it's malty and has that midget gems quality to the finish...
ReplyDeleteI'm drinking some right now.
How do you make your mash then?
ReplyDeleteHook Norton's Old Hooky - love it, I guess it counts. When OBB is done well, it's wonderful. You're right, man - not to be overlooked amongst all the other styles.
ReplyDeleteGet down the pub Zak. Brown beer is common there and even more tasty!
ReplyDeleteGreat post. As someone who lives in a market where ordinary brown beer means something trully dire it sometimes seems that the UK bloggers dont know how lucky they are when they complain about what passes for mediocre in the UK.
ReplyDeleteHook Norton, Batemans , fantastic beer that I would take over a West Coast IPA in most situations. But then again those who know me would say 'I would !'.
Adrian - I might have to start describing the evocative powers of saison as "Tierney-Jones-esque" if this carries on to its illogical conclusion
ReplyDeleteBolero - oddly, none of the new M&S range I've tried falls into the OBB category. But they have all been very good.
Ed - that's an odd comment, but if I were doing it, I'd go for pale, with some crystal, and maybe about .5% amber malts. Fairly low OG, retaining some unfermentables (is that a warmer, drier mash?) to support a slightly heavier hopping rate, as would be my preference. How would you do it?
Tandleman - I remember the pub very clearly. It's this legendary place that I hope to return to one day.
Kieran - thanks, I'm pleased you see that I'm not just being deliberately contrary - there is a lot of great OBB that is overlooked due to the contempt of familiarity.
Did you buy a large box of strong lout, in this experiment to be normal?
ReplyDeleteWell done fella
Cookie - there's "normal", and there's normal. I was being "normal"
ReplyDeleteOut of interest, did this experiment inform your own stocking requirements? As a niche retailer unable to compete on price, was it useful in deciding what to stock and what not to stock in your ale emporium?
ReplyDeletemash, warmer!
ReplyDeleteThere's really nothing better with sausages than mash: I'm very fond of the Irish version, champ, with what the Irish and northerners call scallions and the rest of us spring onions, but Belgian stoemp (are those words related? surely they must be) is fine too. I like to put a little mashed swede in mine, just a touch, with pepper, butter and milk, and brown it off under the grill.
ReplyDeleteZyth - that sounds lke the best of both worlds - a cross between bubble & squeak and mash. Clapshot is a similar Scottish dish.
ReplyDeleteFWIW, I use far too much butter, an egg yolk, and lots of black pepper. You can add a splash of milk if it needs it, but if you use enough butter, you won't have to.
I meant the mashed potato!
ReplyDeleteHaha, sorry, my stupid mistake. I thought for a moment you were being an uppity Heriot-Watt graduate!
ReplyDelete