There's a certain daftness about brewers' fondness for three letter acronym names, particularly when they're used to make a beer seem more English than it actually is, as in Sierra Nevada ESB or Porterhouse TSB. Nothing fake about Brakspear EPA, however, apart from the fact that there's no actual Brakspear brewery any more and it's all made at the Refresh plant in Witney, but none of that matters: it's made in England and, far more importantly, tastes English.In fact, to me, it's a perfect example of my favourite kind of English bitter. There's a touch of fresh floral aroma and a tannic bitterness on top of a full, almost greasy, body. It's very simple and completely unfussy, but far from the tasteless mediocrity that so many English brewers pass off as bitter.
Filtered, pasteurised and containing who-knows-what: yes, probably. But still the beer for me.
And that's your lot until I come back from Copenhagen, where the European Beer Festival kicks off tomorrow afternoon. Three days of beer in 10cl measures is likely to keep me in posts for a while.
European Beer Festival sounds like a tickers heaven! Have fun.
ReplyDeleteI am actually off to the Algarve for some much missed Sun this afternoon. Not sure about the beer situation though - most likely megaswill
Sun? Ghastly stuff. Doesn't agree with me at all.
ReplyDeletePortugal is really not much of a beer destination -- my report on Lisbon is here.
But I'm sure you'll make the most of it.
I'm also a fan of EPA, its a decent well balanced bottled bitter.
ReplyDeleteCulinarybrewer, I reckon your holiday beer experience will be far superior to mine....I'm off to Corfu tomorrow....at least you can potentially take refuge in some decent wine.
Any tips Beer Nut?
If you're very lucky, Mr Blether, you might find beers from the fabulous Craft microbrewery -- look out for the red Craft umbrellas.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise... well, Mythos comes in a nice glass...
Excellent thanks Beer Nut, I will keep my eyes peeled.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to hearing about your Copenhagen experiences.
You certainly get about a bit Mr Beer Nut!
ReplyDeleteI'm off to Tenerife in the morning. Not much beer joy there either; although in the resort there is apparently a German/Austrian bar that serves Gaffel Kolsch and Hannen Alt among others. Not had either before, any good?
If you lived in a country with beer as bad as mine, you get out more too, Dubbel.
ReplyDeleteGaffel's a great quencher, and most likely a brazilian times better than any of the local stuff.
Hannen was the first ever alt I tasted. There is much better but if it isn't over carbonated, it'll make a nice change.
ReplyDeleteThanks for advice Beer Nut, was not lucky enough to find anything from the Craft Microbrewery, but I did find a beer called Royal Ionian Lager Beer, produced by the Corfu Microbrewery (although I was told they won't actually be brewing in Corfu until next year).
ReplyDeleteLoved your pieces on the European Beer festival by the way.
Good to know there's hope for the Greek market yet. Cheers, BB.
ReplyDelete