A Home Counties beer and why you might choose it.

A brief look at the beers of my local area and why the people that brew them are thriving at the minute. 

A Home Counties beer and why you might choose it.

What is a beer for you? Is it a long, tall, golden glass that fizzes with life and is crowned by a white wig of foam. The taste telling you about the days achievements or the nights celebration. or is it the quiet pint, the one you can’t hear and has lain dormant for a month or so with no crown of foam Instead it possesses a rich, silky texture that warms you from the inside and enough welcoming bubbles to remind you that this is a drink that lives: be that in an amber hue or earthy darkness, something lives here and earns the time most patrons are willing to give it.

 I have just described the two beer styles the mainstream public think of, when they think of beer. The definition of beer, colloquially in the United Kingdom, is either the style of lager or the much smaller (and declining) style of cask ale and the movement surrounding its upkeep. 

The town where I live and it’s counterparts within the Northern Home Counties (the Home Counties being, according to official documentation Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent and Surrey,*) was built on the principles of Quaker doctrine and therefore has never had much of an interest in drink, that is until now. 

My own adventures in beer started many months ago,  with the chance discovery of The Three Brewers of St Albans, situated on a farm not far from its namesake town but built with enough space to allow for brewing to take place. When I arrived at the farm one day in late September,  the owners were hurrying around the site preparing for one of their first festivals since the first COVID lockdown, the owners had taken little notice of me at this point and that gave me a chance to look around. Picnic seating had been laid out underneath a plastic canopy, a small platform stood facing out at its prospective audience, a guitarist perched on his stool and plucked gently at the instrument muttering curses to himself as the guitar refused to play well on the wealth of different equipment that sat at the guitarists feet. And then I saw a spit and an advertisement for a hog roast (something that will definitely be getting it’s own chapter in the near future) instantly making my month water although I was about three hours too early for that particular dish. The owner saw me and instantly knew I was too early for the festival and when I asked about trying some of the beers said “no! well, yes ok” and showed me inside the brewhouse and taproom. The bar of the taproom had three taps and lines that were being cleaned as I entered, each of these taps carried the breweries signature brews, Three Brewers Golden, IPA and English Ale. I knew very little about mash bills or the characteristics of any of the more popular hops in these early days (though I did ask!) but I remember the first of the three taster halves that I tried that afternoon was the Golden. This  featured a very small percentage of the carbonisation found in the canned ale that I had, up until that point, been drinking. I was encouraged by this and continued on to the IPA, it’s light body, fruity character and subtle hop bitterness made this beer sing. I realise that this IPA was made in the style of the IPA’s of the 1990’s when hops were added to flavour and balance the beers by adding their natural bitterness but not in the current style where IPA’s are exceptionally fruity beers with a form of citric bitterness that hits the drinker between the eyes and is staggeringly tart. The last of the Three Brewers offerings was the English ale. An amber coloured, low carbon, 4% sessionable pint. The ale smelt of freshly baked bread and gave me that same warming feeling. Like the IPA, this beer belonged to an era of craft before mass marketing, before punks and their IPA’s,  it was a beer that was made for as many people as wanted it. You didn’t have to fit a certain demographic to drink this beer, this was a beer that celebrated the tradition of brewing and at 4% would be accessible to all. 

A gift at Christmas inspired my next trip, the excellent Brewdolph Winter Ale by Farr Brew, sent me to yet another farm where, instead of a festival complete with hog roast and singer, I disturbed a days pigeon shoot in the neighbouring field to access the brew house of the Farr Brewing Company. I arrived to a taproom that seemed deserted with only a small metallic clanking in the very back of the property to let me know I was not alone. I knocked once on the door and was greeted by a moment’s silence until the farmhouse door groaned open and an assistant asked what I wanted. I said I wanted to try their beer “at source” fresh from the tank that would supply Farr brews impressive list of independent pubs and stockists. The assistant grinned and said that was possible, ushering me indoors as he did so. The Barn itself was old and dusty, old stone floors were covered with a selection of rug carpets, the light in the room came from two places, a single warm striplight in the ceiling and a door behind the bar that glowed with a bright, almost clinical light and the promise of new beer and brewing kit (think Mr Bean’s famous exit from the TV show.) The brewery was going through its third brewday in two weeks in order to support it’s pubs and take home bottle offerings. As such the tastings were few and far between but the recommendations were excellent. The taprooms stock of their new porter in bottles crept out of their shelves and displayed the brewery’s signature colour scheme in deep spray-paint style colours. The brewery has a staggering range of IPA’s and ales along with a interesting selection of homegrown spirits, gins, whisky and rum, all at the artisan price point and small size bottles. I decided to skip the spirits this time and focus on the beer and walked out with armfuls of their excellent porter. 

Next, the world of the Tring brewery company, I was getting really into this beer thing now. Tring required a bit of research and the local beer shop had raved about it. The otherwise quiet barman of the beer shop in Hitchen had lit up at the idea of local beer and the eccentric names that came with it. Take as an example Tring’s “Side Pocket For A Toad” an exceptionally clean, bright, citrusy ale that drinks like a lager in midsummer. Finding more of this incredible ale and its companion beers became a must after tasting a first glass. The trip to the brewery revealed a first for my extended beer tour.  An actual bar! This bar was situated in the middle of its brewery shop and would not have looked out of place in some of the Nations favourite soaps. The shop was a marketing dream, everything from lunchbox’s to beanies and caps was plastered with the familiar face of the toad in its side pocket on a deep sapphire background. The bar staff were genuinely  enthusiastic about my own tastes and matching their beers to my minimal knowledge and questing palette. They were very keen to show me a selection of their core beer, lead by the excellent Ridgeway Bitter, a well malted smooth drink that would suit a deep British winter and at 4% makes for comforting and comfortable drinking. Their next offering was a stout called “Tea Kettle” which despite its deep coffee and cream aroma lacked the body I would normally associate with the style. Finally and probably most stunningly, was their epic “Death or Glory” an English old ale that as brewed on behalf of the Queens Royal Lancers since 1994.  This staggeringly strong beer at 7.2%, creates a great sweetness and viscous mouth feel, best drank in small quantities as a beer drinkers alternative to a hearty red wine. As far as take home offerings, tring brewing company was only too happy to fill my growler (a particular type of bottle that keeps and transports cask or keg beer as poured at source, think a litre sized Chilly bottle that latches shut) full of their Ridgeway ale for me to have at dinner that night.  

The last stop on my extended beer tour was Chiltern brewery, I had come prepared to the taproom having had a number of recommendations for their beers from other beer lovers. The bar staff that greeted me as I entered were dressed as if I had just walked into a expensive tailors, in dress trousers, the brewery’s own white shirt, club tie and jumper. I showed them my list of recommendations and they were delighted to know that their beers were being talked about and began pouring samples for me as I looked around the shop. Like the Tring Brewery they had become a marketing dream, their advertising was everywhere and on everything, their proud logo glistened in the well-lit room but they let the beer speak for itself. Their Beechwood Bitter was surprisingly sweet and rich with an incredible mouthfeel and slight smoky character. Their porters, “Chiltern Black” and “The Lord lieutenants” were outstanding and cemented my suspicions that porter was becoming a favourite style for me. Their Old Ale was a brilliantly comfortable drink and a demonstration of Chiltern’s commitment to a range of gluten-free beer. 

If you’ve read this far then thank you, this has become a bit of a behemoth piece but there has been something magical about this extended beer tour. I have had the great pleasure of exploring my local area through beer, seeing the hidden spots that continue to make these three counties great and the wonderful carpets of greenery that could,  or perhaps, should be used to reflect on life ideally with a choice local pint in your hand. 

*according to the Oxford English Dictionary 2010 

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Sean Morrison

Sean Morrison

When training in film and subsequently theatre, Sean was told by the academics that his writing was much too “flowery.” Sean continues to have no idea what his tutors meant by this and in the words of Neil Gaiman: “he will keep making things up and writing them down.”

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