Too many beer moments to count so on walking the dogs came
up with three and decided to stick with the ones that spontaneously fermented
in the mind, rather than pick and choose and trim and tail.
Travelling through Suffolk, decided to stop for a pint at the
King’s Head in Laxfield, one of my favourite all time pubs. A glass of Adnams
Best Bitter, as it was then called, its backbone of English Maris Otter (as was
then used) and spicy, pithy citrus Kentish hop character; muscular and
mandatory in that I felt that I needed another. Car outside though, expected at
home later in day — a quick weakening of resolve, a scan through a notice board
to see if there were any local B&Bs and the creation of an excuse for why I
needed to stay another night. I’m glad I didn’t as sometimes you cannot
recapture that first beer moment of the day no matter how many pints you have.
At a CAMRA meeting in the mid 1990s, at which I was asked to
take over the branch newsletter, effectively my tipping point into beer writing. In
the Royal Clarence Hotel in Burnham on Sea, which was then the home of RCH
brewery. ‘Try this,’ said someone (I forget who). A pint of RCH’s East Street
Cream, the deliciousness of which made me stay with it the whole evening, in
the enjoyable company of an elder chap who was called Freddy Walker (yes the
former submariner after whom Moor’s beer was named in the late 1990s). ‘I think
we’ll have one more,’ was the constant refrain for the evening. A beer that I
still enjoy but that first meeting was glorious.
From the maturation tank a golden stream of beer, topped
with a marsh-mallow head of foam. ‘We call this Spezial,’ said the brewer at
Chodovar, before pointing in the direction of nearby Bavaria, ‘and over there
they call it Marzen.’ If there was ever a moment of beery epiphany that set me
off on a quest this was it. The beer was creamy, fresh and perky, fulsome in
the mouthfeel, with a bittersweet buzz followed by a notable bite of
bitterness; it felt both smooth and rough, a heady combination that made it one
of those dreamy beer experiences to be had when tasting a beer straight from
the tank. I’m still dealing with
the consequences of this experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment