Old Speckled Hen

Name: Old Speckled Hen
Style: Bitter ale
ABV: 5.2%
Serving: 355ml bottle
Brewery: Morland Brewing
Location: Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England
Weblink: Old Speckled Hen

So, St. George's Day. Well, I couldn't really review another Ontarian beer on Shakespere's birthday now, could I? So here we go with a beer that I have enjoyed for many years. Although it is better on draught in its original, lower alcohol form, this version seems to have been brewed with North American tastes in mind. Oh, and their expectations about how strong a beer should be. Also, it is the one and only British beer that is available within walking distance of my apartment. Yup, just Hen. There are three (count them, three!) Thai beers at the beer store, but just one British one. Very odd, although it does go a long way to illustrate the tastes of the average Joe on the Canadian streets. Well, at least it was this one and not ****ing Boddingtons.

The beer pours its usual fluid, deep coppery amber colour, with a fine, loose head of tan bubbles that dissipate within a couple of minutes of getting it into the glass. So far just what you'd expect from an English bitter. The scents that rise from those bubbles are very heavily dominated by butterscotch and citrus, a little like you'd expect a glass of orange juice with half a pack of Werthers Originals dissolved into it to smell. Behind that there is a yeasty freshness that reminds you yes, it was a beer you just poured. The flavours are, thankfully, quite a bit more complex though. There is still the citrus and toffee spine, but layered onto that are a fine bouquet of floral, hoppy notes, not unlike a herbaceous border on a warm summer's evening. Yes, definitely a hint of violets there. As the beer moves back in your mouth there is a crisp, clean dryness that develops. Not the astringent, medicinal dryness that seem to be popular right now, but a soft, bready dryness. The brewery ascribe this to their ancient strains of yeast, which I can believe.

However, this beer has been better. Since the Green King buyout in 1999 they seem to have developed this brand as their easy drinking bitter, masquerading as a quality craft product. It has softened off a lot, with much less of the yeasty character that it used to have, and more of the hoppy florals, balanced by an increase in the sweet tones in the flavour palette. This was a pioneer in getting good beers into the supermarket mainstream and for that every beer drinker should be grateful. But also be grateful that so many others have ridden on its coat tails and pushed what is possible and acceptable into the interesting realms that we now enjoy. Happy St. George's Day, cheers!