Thursday 23 August 2012

Special occasion ales

Tonight I went to the Golden Bee, the local Wetherspoons pub, expecting to try one of my favourite beers, Sadlers Mud City Stout.  The beer was labelled as 'Coming Soon' on Monday but sadly the label was sgtill there tonight.  The Olympics is over but I chose a pint of Golden Flame brewed by the excellent Burton Bridge brewery.  This beer was brewed specifically to celebrate London 2012 and at 4.5% I was expecting a pleasant pint.  However, it was disappointing.  A standard golden bitter with very little aftertaste.  Perhaps I was destined to be disappointed due to expecting a lovely pint of stout.  However, I can categorically state that I have never found an above average pint of beer that was brewed for a special occasion.  It may be that my taste buds are telling me not to enjoy it because it won't be around for long.  Let's face it though, if a beer proves popular enough, it will be given an alternative name at a later date and reappear.

Similar to special occasion beers, many breweries are now experimenting with special monthly beers.  In the case of these monthly specials though, I have had many fine beers.  King and Barnes, the Horsham brewer sadly no longer in existence, was one of the first breweries I remember doing these special ales.  Intially, they did seasonal brews and eventually they became monthly.  The one I remember with great affection was their Corn Beer.  This pale 6.0% ABV beer was absolutely delightful.  It was so easy to drink too which was dangerous due to the strength.  If a current brewer is out  there reading this please experiment with corn and let me know when it is available.  I'd be a very happy man.

Happy drinking.
  

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