Hey everybody, welcome back to the Brew Review!
In today’s episode we have a bunch of firsts. First video since I put a new coat of paint on my living room walls, first time I do a review of an English Style Pale Ale, and first time I ever drink a bottle conditioned beer. What is a bottle conditioned beer? Well; it is a beer that yeast is put inside of the bottle and the beer actually continues to ferment while sitting on store shelves or in your refrigerator. This type of beer is generally know as “real ale” in the UK where it is brewed. But anywho, let’s get on to the beer itself.
The Pour
You have got to be careful when you pour Hens Tooth, you don’t want that yeast to be poured into your glass with the beer so give it a slower pour than normal. Even after doing that you will see from the video that this beer has incredible head and a really great burnt orange color.
The Nose
Greeness, floral, and hop notes dominate the nose. You will also find some bread like malts in there that kind of give you the feeling of baking bread on a nice spring day.
The Palate
Unfortunately I don’t think most of you will like this beer. It has extremely bitter European style hops that leave a skunky flavor in your mouth. Much like Grolsch’s review, which I couldn’t remember in the video. There is a very slight malty flavor in the beer, but not enough to balance it out, and nowhere near as prevalent as some of the reviews I have read about Hens Tooth have said. For me this is a pass, unless you have never had a English style Pale Ale or bottle conditioned beer before. If you haven’t this is a must try because you always need to be expanding your palate.
Around Fanbrew
The bracket tourney is kicking butt and if you haven’t been in to Old Chicago yet to get in on the action you are missing out. Also we will be at Brickwork’s Brewery in Hobart again tonight ( ignore what the video says about tomorrow) for the NWI tweetup and I hope to see a bunch of you there. Also a big thanks to Jaimie from Northcoast Distributing for some amazing swag for the up coming contest we are going to be running on the site. So keep your eyes peeled for a way to win some cool prizes from us in the future.
Adam,
Sounds like a definite no for me. I prefer lagers over pale ales anyway. Concerning the bottle conditioned beer, Isn’ that what home brewed beer involves? Buddy of mine makes his own and we always have to pour slowly to avoid trash from the bottom of the bottle getting in the glass.
Depends on whether or not your friend is filtering the beer in any way. When you are home brewing it takes a lot of time to learn methods for brewing “clean” beer in which you can actually filter any and all sediment out of it.
I will let you know soon. I am sitting on my gift cert to kennywood’s brewing supply store. When we get a new house the first thing I will do is brew my own batch.
Thanks for the info, and good luck on the house hunting.
I have a MR. BREW that I’ve never used. It looked complicated….
You have been sitting on a Mr. Brew all this time and you never told me? You are an ass.
I have never had this beer. Thanks for the review. I will have to taste it for myself and see if I like it. Bottoms up