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25-02-2019, 19:51
Visit the Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog site (https://boakandbailey.com/2019/02/that-little-bit-of-magic/)
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/brains_bitter-COLLAGE.jpgDrinking extraordinarily good Bass at the Angel at Long Ashton on Saturday we found ourselves reflecting, once again, on the fine difference between a great pint and a disappointment.
A few years ago, when we were trying hard to make the Farmer’s Arms in Penzance our local, we had a session on Ringwood Forty-Niner that made us think it might actually be a great beer.
But every pint we’ve had since, there or anywhere else, has been pretty dreadful.
What gave it the edge that first time? And what was missing thereafter? Extra high frequencies, or an additional dimension, somehow.
This elusive quality is what we tasted in eight pints of Timothy Taylor Landlord out of ten at the Nags Head in Walthamstow for several years in a run, and what is so often not there when we encounter it as a guest ale anywhere else.
It’s what makes recommending or endorsing cask ales in particular a mug’s game: “Is it only me that’s never got the fuss about London Pride?” someone will say on Twitter. No, it’s not, and we don’t doubt that you’ve never had a good pint, because it can taste like dust and sweetcorn, and does maybe more than half the time we encounter it. But when it’s good, oh! is it good.
Bass isn’t a great beer in absolute terms, but it can be, honest.
Harvey’s Sussex Best can be a wretched, miserable thing – all stress and staleness – and might well have been every time you’ve ever encountered it. But the next pint you have might be a revelation.
Are the lows worth enduring for the highs? Yes, and it might even be that they make the highs higher.
(We’ve probably made this point before but after nearly 3,000 posts, who can remember…)
That Little Bit of Magic (https://boakandbailey.com/2019/02/that-little-bit-of-magic/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (https://boakandbailey.com)
More... (https://boakandbailey.com/2019/02/that-little-bit-of-magic/)
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/brains_bitter-COLLAGE.jpgDrinking extraordinarily good Bass at the Angel at Long Ashton on Saturday we found ourselves reflecting, once again, on the fine difference between a great pint and a disappointment.
A few years ago, when we were trying hard to make the Farmer’s Arms in Penzance our local, we had a session on Ringwood Forty-Niner that made us think it might actually be a great beer.
But every pint we’ve had since, there or anywhere else, has been pretty dreadful.
What gave it the edge that first time? And what was missing thereafter? Extra high frequencies, or an additional dimension, somehow.
This elusive quality is what we tasted in eight pints of Timothy Taylor Landlord out of ten at the Nags Head in Walthamstow for several years in a run, and what is so often not there when we encounter it as a guest ale anywhere else.
It’s what makes recommending or endorsing cask ales in particular a mug’s game: “Is it only me that’s never got the fuss about London Pride?” someone will say on Twitter. No, it’s not, and we don’t doubt that you’ve never had a good pint, because it can taste like dust and sweetcorn, and does maybe more than half the time we encounter it. But when it’s good, oh! is it good.
Bass isn’t a great beer in absolute terms, but it can be, honest.
Harvey’s Sussex Best can be a wretched, miserable thing – all stress and staleness – and might well have been every time you’ve ever encountered it. But the next pint you have might be a revelation.
Are the lows worth enduring for the highs? Yes, and it might even be that they make the highs higher.
(We’ve probably made this point before but after nearly 3,000 posts, who can remember…)
That Little Bit of Magic (https://boakandbailey.com/2019/02/that-little-bit-of-magic/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (https://boakandbailey.com)
More... (https://boakandbailey.com/2019/02/that-little-bit-of-magic/)