After my apocalyptic blow-out at the Boonville Beer Fest a few weeks ago, I’ve gently eased myself back into the world of beer drinking by riding the “session” train. That means English beers where I can find ‘em. Anyway, since the few trips I took to Europe in the early part of this decade, I’ve really given beers from the UK short shrift, and I figure it’s time to discover a few new ones, like the excellent OLD SPECKLED HEN I had a couple months ago and the YOUNG’S DOUBLE CHOCOLATE STOUT I tried a few nights ago. Well, here’s another one I’m excited about – but guess what? It’s not really from England, it’s from SHIPYARD BREWING in Maine, and it’s called “RINGWOOD BREWING OLD THUMPER” . Crazy. It’s your basic straight-up English bitter, albeit one with a terrific mix of flavors going on. Nutty, carmel-accented, and with a taste that was neither dry nor, uh, wet. Some hops, and an alcohol level around 6%. Sounds pretty normal, hunh? No, way, HBJ says it’s a 8/10. Old Thumper’s got that je ne sais quoi we love around here, if we could only tell you what that was. Try one and you too shall know.
Friday, May 25, 2007
OLD THUMPER!
After my apocalyptic blow-out at the Boonville Beer Fest a few weeks ago, I’ve gently eased myself back into the world of beer drinking by riding the “session” train. That means English beers where I can find ‘em. Anyway, since the few trips I took to Europe in the early part of this decade, I’ve really given beers from the UK short shrift, and I figure it’s time to discover a few new ones, like the excellent OLD SPECKLED HEN I had a couple months ago and the YOUNG’S DOUBLE CHOCOLATE STOUT I tried a few nights ago. Well, here’s another one I’m excited about – but guess what? It’s not really from England, it’s from SHIPYARD BREWING in Maine, and it’s called “RINGWOOD BREWING OLD THUMPER” . Crazy. It’s your basic straight-up English bitter, albeit one with a terrific mix of flavors going on. Nutty, carmel-accented, and with a taste that was neither dry nor, uh, wet. Some hops, and an alcohol level around 6%. Sounds pretty normal, hunh? No, way, HBJ says it’s a 8/10. Old Thumper’s got that je ne sais quoi we love around here, if we could only tell you what that was. Try one and you too shall know.
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2 comments:
I have tried this beer and it was good!
Shipyard does brew the US Old Thumper...under the eye of Alan Pugsley who worked and was trained
at the Ringwood brewery... plus it
is brewed with the Ringwood yeast...
when Shipyard started the brewing of Old Thump. a team
of Ringwood brewers were in maine to
adjust the formula to match the English version as close as possible...the water in Maine is a lot softer then England....
Cheers...
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