American Beers and Michael Jackson.

A few years ago I wrote a blog about beers from the USA and included a homage to Michael Jackson, the Beer Hunter, not the singer, and last year was 10 years since his death. I meant to write again last year but I wasn't so great with my ale blogging last year, so have decided to make up for it now by re-writing the original! My interest in beers brewed in the USA started in 1998, when I visited Chicago whilst I was delivering a paper to a social science conference out there, and I went to Goose Island for an afternoon. Goose Island was a brewpub, and is now owned by one of the biggie brewers, but it still brews in Chicago I believe.

Before I flew out I was provided with some local information from a friend who was married to a lass from nearby in Illinois, and I was very happy with the visit to Goose Island (website). There were quite a number of excellent real ales brewed on the premises, and all types of English styles: IPA, Extra Special Bitter, Porter, Stout, Best Bitter, they had the lot, and very nice they were too! The only error I made there was to order 'chips' with my burger ("How would you like your burger?" was a surprise question too) and being given crisps, oh well, a learning experience. I also found out you could get their beers bottle-conditioned, I drank one that was called Honkers back at the hotel where I was staying, although another learning experience for me, they DO like their beer cold out there, the Honkers was dragged out of a sink full of icy water! 

Secondly, a friend of mine, Anne, who's first wedding, at Wandsworth Town Hall I was a witness at many many years ago, now lives in Florida, and she sent Ken Wells' Travels with Barley to me as a present. It's an interesting read, and, although I haven't been able to grab hold of any of the 'extreme' beers mentioned therein, eg Dogfish World Wide Stout, weighing in at a hefty 23.6%, nor the same brewer's 120 Minute IPA, packed with hops, and a meagre 18%, I did manage to find the 4 following weaker beers, available at the local supermarket.

You'll notice that these are mostly IPA style, or APAs (American Pale Ales), which was not such a hardship for me, knowing my preferences! The first of which was the bottle-conditioned, and extremely well known, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (5.6%). I thought that this may not be that good, being as it's considered a bit 'run of the mill' for American beers apparently, but it was bottle-conditioned, so... Magnum and Perle hops are used in the brewing process, and it is finished with Cascade, so promising, and it definitely had the citrus fruit you would expect. I got grapefruit in the flavour, and have seen another reviewer say tangerine, whatever, it had a very nice flavour and quite bitter too, what a pleasantly surprising start! More at the brewers website, if you want to research further.

OK, I was getting into this now, I do love research, and I moved on to my second choice, Steven Point (website) being the brewer, and their IPA, which is actually brewed for the UK market, that's how popular some of these beers are becoming! This is also 5.6%, and uses Magnum and Perle hops too, and dry hopped with Cascade, so I'm guessing they're competing directly with the Sierra Nevada... Indeed, I had already made a note of cascade hops used before checking, so that hop's flavour definitely came through, a wee bit apple in the flavour, hint of sweetness, and a bitterness coming from the grapefruit flavour provided by the cascade hops. Not bad at all, I wrote "goodish" in my notes, though not as much to my liking as the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

My penultimate beer was another IPA, this time brewed by Shipyard Brewing Company (website) and 5.8%. The Shipyard version is a single hop variety, and even has a subtitle Fuggles IPA, and yes, you've guessed, Fuggles are the hops of choice for this ale. I've seen quite a few reviews of this beer saying "traditional English style", oh dear, what a shame, though I didn't catch the grapefruit taste others did. Maybe I know the Fuggles hop a little too well, but I did pick up a fruitiness, apple and plum though for me! Another not too bad beer, but my IPA, or APA, of choice in this tiny sample has to be the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, thank you very much!

I finished off my American beer adventure with the Shipyard Blue Fin Stout (4.7%) a very different style of beer obviously. The Blue Fin Stout is described as a "classic Irish Stout" and has an array of hops used in the brewing process, Warrior, Cascade, Tettnang and Goldings, though, excepting 'Black IPAs", I have trouble spotting the hops in darker beers. This was very enjoyable, though, with a subtle malt and caramel flavour, and a nice dry roasted barley finish, 'twas a bit like a traditional stout, indeed, cheers!

So, I say a big "thank you" to the Yanks and their growing influence in the world of brewing, particularly to their willingness to chuck in loadsa hops, cheers m'dears!

Regarding Michael Jackson, the "Beer Hunter", he was a well known writer who loved many different styles of beer, including American and Belgian beers. A friend who works at Fullers Brewery gave me a bottle of the 'Extra Special' Fullers ESB Michael brewed for the American market, and it was very good too. Indeed, another customer I knew asked why I hadn't got Michael to sign the bottle label as he had (he was going to see if he could sell it on e-bay). Silly man, I'd already drunk it the night before!

But Michael did like to knock back pints of his favourite ale in a jug, the merely 3.5% Chiswick Bitter brewed at Fullers in nearby Chiswick. His last evening on earth was spent drinking Chiswick Bitter at his local pub, the Andover Arms in Brackenbury Village near Hammersmith, whilst I was relief manager there... 

R.I.P. Michael Jackson (1942-2007).