New Brew Thursday - a doubleheader . . . 10 Penny Ale and Whaler Ale

Recently I was bonding with some adult members of my family. . . shooting pool and enjoying some cold brews at a local amusementcenter.  The bar had a couple of new (tome) beers on tap that were calling to me. They both appeared to be local brews . . . even better!  Of course I had to try them.

The first was a beer called Ten Penny Ale brewed by The OldeBurnside Brewing Company which is located in East Hartford, Connecticut.  That’s pretty darn local . . . to me. 

The brewing company is spinoff of the family-owned icemanufacturing business.   The ice business primarily services local businesses.   Theowner of the company . . . a beer lover himself . . . became curious about thevolume of water being carted off by regular consumers.  Upon asking what they were doing with allthat water they replied that they were using it to make beer.  What made his water so special?  Well, it turns out that the source of the waterused for the ice making business is similar in mineral characteristics to the watersof Burton-on-Trent, the source of water formany of the renowned ales of the United Kingdom.  Long story short . . . the brewery came tobe. 

Ten Penny Ale . . . their flagship brew . . . got its namefrom the olden days.  At a time when apint went for a nickel occasionally brewers would produce a special batch that theywould charge a whole dime for . . . hence ten penny ale.

Ten Penny Ale is a version of Scottish ale.  Scotch ale is a variety of pale ale with a high alcohol content and characteristically rich and malty.  

 

Flavor-wise, I think that The Olde Burnside versionof this ale falls in line with that description.  However, with a 5.6% ABV it isn’t quite asstrong as the typical Scottish ale . . . its not unusual for Scotch ale to havean alcohol content that exceeds 9% ABV.

Ten Penny Ale is a clean, flavorful beer.  The malt flavor is very much in evidence withdefinite caramel notes.  It’s got greatbody and goes down way to easy.  A verygood, well crafted beer, in my opinion. God, I love micro-brews!


For more information visit their website.

The second beer was Whaler Ale.  The Whalers are a local minor league hockeyteam and the beer is named after them. It just has to be a local beer no? Well . . . no . . . not really.  Iwas surprised and disappointed to find out that Whaler Ale is actually AnheuserBusch’s Budweiser American Ale repackaged as Whaler Ale.

With all the great locally owned and operated Connecticut breweriesaround why a huge company that produces copious quantities of mediocre beer?  I don’t know . . . someone didn’t think thatone through.   I kind of feel like I wasmisled into believing it was a local beer; I would have been happier knowing itwas a Budweiser product.

The beer wasn't bad but it is what it is . . . mass produced beer in the style of American Amber ale.  It was a little malty, a little hoppy with a slightly sweet undertone.   Don’t let my disappointment in the misguided marketing of the beer dissuade you from trying this beer.  It is refreshing and tasty and overall a good ale.  5.3% alcohol by volume.

New Brew Thursday - Doubleheader . . . Switchback Ale and Honker's Ale

One of our favorite restaurants, Red Park Steakhouse and Pub, has a hoppin' pub with some fantastic bartenders.  The bar is so much fun we normally dine in there instead of the restaurant.  

The pub has a large selection of standard beers with few rotating taps.  There's always something interesting and new to try.  They had two new (to us) ales on tap so we decided try a pair of ales.  Both were distinctly different with completely disparate flavors.


First up to bat was Switchback Ale.

Switchback Brewing was founded in 2002 by a couple of friends and is located in Burlington, Vermont.  I'm a big fan of small breweries, so anytime I get the chance to try a new microbrew I'm all over it.  This one didn't disappoint.  

Switchback Ale is brewed with five different malts, select hop varieties, and their own specially cultivated yeast.  The special brewing process uses the yeast to naturally carbonate the beer, and it is left unfiltered. 5.0% alcohol by volume. 

When the beer was set in front of me by the bartender I was immediately struck by the color . . . a beautiful reddish gold.   It was fairly clear for an unfiltered ale. The taste was refreshing; not overly hoppy, clean and fresh tasting with a nice malty flavor on the tail end.   It wasn't in-yer-face remarkable but overall it yummy and very drinkable.   If you're looking for something different to try, I'd say give it a go.

For more information you can find Switchback Brewing Company on Facebook.

Second in the line up was a beer by a fun name that couldn't be denied . . . Honker's Ale.  Brewed by Goose Island Beer Co. hailing from Chicago Illinois.  


Goose Island started out a single brewpub 1988 but was eventually sold to a better known brewery . . .  Anheuser-Busch . . . in 2011.  



The beer is distributed throughout the United States and England, but interestingly the Honker's Ale we enjoyed is made a little closer to home.  This variety and their IPA brewed specifically for the east coast in New Hampshire.  Does that make it a microbrew?  Mmm . . . I'm not so sure.


Honker's Ale is categorized as an English Bitter.  To me that brings to mind an acerbic hoppy taste but, in fact, this isn't the case at all.  British bitters are much milder than IPA's and are generally considered the mildest of English bitter ales . . . as opposed to best and premium bitter ales.

I would say that describes Honker's Ale pretty well.  It had a mild hoppy taste and was surprisingly light tasting . . . in other words, it is not a strong tasting beer.  It actually had what I would say was a hollow finish . . . not much flavor at all at the end.  4.7% alcohol by volume. 


Did I like it?  It thought it was good but not exceptional.  I can't say that I would buy it again; however, I wouldn't turn one down if someone handed me a glass.


Visit the Goose Island website for more information on this or their other offerings.