Am I a little late on reporting this one?  Probably.  For what it's worth, I'm happy to report that Britain specifically created a cabinet position for a Minister of Pubs.  The reports I've seen and heard about this have been upbeat and positive.  I think it is a very cool fact that beer is that big a part of life in the British mind.  One can't help but ask a question: Why?  Why create one now? The reason that it has happened so late in the game is essentially a reactionary situation.  I don't know how many of you know this, but pubs are on the decline in England.  Various reasons have dictated the situation.  Development of the store bought draught system, increased can selection in the store, and the continued break-down of social life are all mitigating factors.  I hit on this point quite a while back when I wrote a rant against American "pubs." Nate wrote this.  Pub is short for public place.  But in societies that continually focus on the private life (sometimes to an unhealthy degree...I'm looking at myself, too), there is bound to be a degradation in public life.  Something like 2,200 pubs closed down ...

Rich, delicious, classic.  These are just three words I associate with Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout.  Ever since it was commissioned at the behest of Merchant du Vin, it's had a serious foothold on the world of oatmeal stouts.  It's odd that we've not reviewed it before now on the site.  It's widely liked, and I've always had a special love for this beer.  Better late than never, I suppose. Oatmeal stouts have not been around for too long a period.  Their introduction seems to be connected to some time in the 1890s.  Of course, oats themselves have been used in brewing for multiple centuries.  It used to be that oats were seen to detract from the quality, adding bitterness via tannins to a beer (especially in higher amounts).  Michael Jackson mentioned an oatmeal stout that he had tried, and that was enough to peak the curiosity of many and essentially revive the style.  In my mind, Samuel Smith's is the classic example. The Pour: As I've mentioned before, sometimes stouts look like porters and vice versa.  I would certainly categorize the colors of this beer as being along the lines of a robust porter.  It's dark but light enough to let some ...

Since we drank Fiddler's Elbow and Hobgoblin on Saturday, I thought I might pick up Scarecrow Pale Ale, too.  The trio of bottles were simply lovely together, and I personally thought that they might have been nice as Halloween beers.  Halloween or not, these English Ales are all worthy of a try (or two).  Nate has already written the review of Fiddler's Elbow, so here are the other two. Scarecrow Golden Pale Ale: The Pour: As the name implies, the beer resembled the straw-like colors of a scarecrow.  There was a small but stable froth of white head that remained atop the clean body. The Nose: One thing I love about English Ales is the use of demerrara sugar, which almost always lends a particular caramel/toffee/brown sugar tone to the beers.  It also serves to lighten the body of a brew while lending plenty of flavor.  Besides the sugar tones, I noted a pretty hoppy presence.  This was not the citrusy, piney, or grapefruit quality that many American versions of pale have.  It took more like a classic British aroma hop.  Of course, these are subtle in their citrusy tones, but they almost tend to yield a slight skunky tone.  A touch of ...

An unusually warm 70 degree November day in Ohio made Wychwood's Fiddlers Elbow seemed a perfect fit for my Saturday evening.  Described as a beer that "evokes the lazy, hazy days of summer in golden meadows & ripe corn fields," I assumed a light and fruity beer.  To some extent it was, and to some extent it wasn't.  I would love to see the actual grain bill for this beer, as Wychwood was slightly ambiguous (as would I be, were I a brewer). The Pour: Describing beer is as subjective as personalities are unique.   Described by Wychwood as Golden in color, I expected a a blonde hazy liquid to enter my glass.  On the contrary the color was more along the lines of an English Pale ale, only a tad lighter in color.  There was a slight haze and a rich white head that left great lacing designs as it slunk into the beer. The Nose: Up front are classic toasted/biscuit malt aromas.  Buttery and coppery aromas mingle with floral and grassy hop notes.  There is a hard to pinpoint fruity aroma in there too.  With my nose in the bouquet of smells, I can imagine the summery, hay like nature of this beer.  ...

My brother recently visited Pasadena and we had a chance to hang out, catch-up, and drink beer.  He had all my newest homebrew creations during the week, but we bought some beers for the Colts game on Sunday.  It was not intentional, but it ended up that we had three barrel aged beers.  We had, in this order, Olde Suffolk, Samuel Smith's Yorkshire Stingo, and Older Viscosity.  It was a fun day of football and barrel aged beers.  My account of these beers is as follows: Olde Suffolk: This particular beer is aged for two years in oak barrels.  Greene King is the brewery that also makes Strong Suffolk, a 12% ABV monster that is aged for two years (minimum).  This one, however, is a somewhat moderate beer in that it is half the ABV of the Strong.  Of course, this is not moderate by typical English Ale standards.  I've seen complaints on other sites about this beer being $4 dollars for a single imperial pint.  All I can say is this:  What can you expect a beer that has been aged 2 years in oak to cost? Furthermore, one has to consider that a 6% ABV beer in England is ...

A while back, I wrote about London beer as a bittersweet experience.  I also called that post preliminary thoughts, so I thought I'd come back to it.  To summarize the first post, I essentially stated that bitters dominate the landscape of London.  If you plan on visiting England, go to London for sure, but make certain that you are a ambulatory when it comes to the rest of England.  Time and again I've been told that you've got to explore smaller areas and towns to really get the whole ale experience.  Having said that, let me recommend a couple of places to obtain beer in London, should you visit: The Lowlander specializes in Belgian Ales.  Many of the better/more unique beers that I tasted in London were at this location.  I drank some sours, lambics, and some triples.  Unlike the lower alcohol beers that dotted the landscape, the Lowlander had some fairly big beers.  Of course, you are going to pay for them. This is not only due to the fact that more ingredients and time went into the beers but also because many places in Europe base taxation of beers on their alcohol content. The Museum Pub: It seems to me ...

Guest Beer Review by Andrea, wife of the Beer Scientist Let me begin by saying that I'm nuts about nuts (clarification: I want to unequivocally declare that I am referring to food here).  Whether that's raw, whole almonds; peanut butter; Nutella; or brown rice green tea with its nutty undertones--if it's got that nutty quality, you can bet I'll love it. So it should come as no surprise that I positively enjoy Newcastle’s “One and Only” Ale, often referred to as a Nut Brown Ale (or “Dog” by imbibers closer to home). And here is why: The Pour: Characteristic of a brown ale, Newcastle’s color definitely falls between the pale ale and porter range with its copper-red body. The active, tiny bubbles from the carbonation quickly dissipated the creamy, white head but also seemed to maintain a thin, white rim along the edge of the glass—foam that reformed every time the brew swished around. This also contributed to creating some lovely, white lacing. The Nose: The Brown Ale was minimal on the nose, which may have been compounded by the fact that the beer was fairly cold after a few days in the fridge. About all I picked up were alcohol dryness, slight metallic ...

With all the hubub this past weekend over the resignation of one of the White House Czars, it seem fitting that one of our Sip With Us Saturday Beer was a beer originally  crafted for a czar, in the most historical sense of the word.  Since we  picked this beer on Friday, and Van Jones announced his resignation Satuday evening, we here at Thank Heaven for Beer are beginning to wonder if our articles posses some supernatural oracular power! All kidding aside, the Imperial Stout, authentically a Russian Imperial Stout, is not Russian, but was brewed to woo the imperial court of Catherine of Russia by Thales brewery.  Thales was bought out by Courage Brewery, and the beer, originally called "Imperial Russian Stout," was renamed "Courage Russian Imperial Russian Stout."  When Courage shut down, the Imperial Stout's production was transferred to Sam Smith's brewery in Tadcaster.  The beer, which in its prime boasted a 10 percent ABV, didn't last long.  However Sam Smith's began producing the beer again as interest in bolder brews began to revive in more recent years in the UK and abroad. So in a sense, while the current version is only 7% ABV, one could argue that Sam ...

For sake of context and to reduce redundancy, the reader of this site should read the prior article that reviewed J W Lees Harvest Ale Matured In Calvados Casks.  You see, this beer is no different in recipe than the beer aged in Clavados casks.  Drinking two beers of same/similar recipe with only slight nuance in differentiation is a great exercise, as it allows the beer enthusiast to test his/her palate, as well as noting how the slightest of variations can impact the flavor.  Some times it may be taste like a complete overhall of flavor, other times it may just be an aftertaste difference. In this case, I found that the flavor of the beer was quite different, yet the DNA of the beer was was powerfully apparent. The Pour: The pour was identical to the Calvados version.  The beer looked exactly the same except, it appeared that the Sherry version was lightly more red in appearance.  I cannot verify this, though, as I drank these two beers on separate occasions. The Aroma: Here is where these brother brews begin to mark their territory.  While one can tell they are quite related (mollasses, toffee/caramel, raisin, nutty aromas) there is a slightly acidic aroma.  There ...

Often, one finds themselves lost in a sea of beer sites and blogs. Sometimes I wonder, “are there too many of them?” No, absolutely not—as long as they all are not saying the same thing. Thus said, the content of this site is carefully chosen, especially when it comes to beer reviews. The honest truth is, the authors of this site collectively drink too many varieties off beers than could be reviewed by this site. In fact, if a review were written per beer consumed by both Mike and I, we would indeed have to quit our jobs to keep up, and/or readers would become tired of simply reading beer reviews. The bottom line is: beer reviews are posted on this site because we felt the need to highlight something in particular. Either the beer is fitting to the season, was horrible, was outstanding, contained a flavor nuance we had never encountered, or any number of reasons and combination of reasons. So the reason for posting this review and the subsequent love sonnet, is because I felt these beers must be tasted by you, simply because they are exceptional... The first of these two ...