Howdy beer quaffers and aficionados alike. Welcome to yet another superlative edition of the Brew Man Group. As some of you might already know, the Brew Man Group continues to be split up by spans as large as an ocean (actually, this time it’s the Atlantic). As we write, Dan is now braving the (not so terrible) pitfalls of every English pub he can stumble his drunk-ass into, while Neil wallows in his parents’ basement, making home brews to ease the pain. Sad times indeed. Regardless, we plan on bringing another installment filled with educational material for everyone (except for those under 19, who might also be informally called “jail-bait” as Dan tells me). So sit back, crack a beer, and enjoy my friends. Today we will be reviewing an older English ale; Old Speckled Hen.
Dan: Old Speckled Hen is classified as an English Pale Ale, though could just as easily be referred to as a ‘bitter’, given the right context anyway. The term ‘pale ale’ was coined in early 18th century England to make the somewhat obvious distinction from other ales (such as porters) that were not so pale by comparison. ‘Bitter’, in particular, referred to pale ales that were relatively lighter and clearer in colour and had a more prominent hop character. However, many ‘pale ales’ were simply referred to as a ‘bitters’ when served in a pub on cask, which brings us to the sub-topic of this article. “What’s a cask?”, I’m sure some of you are asking. Well, dear readers, a cask is a magical wooden barrel from which delicious ales are served. They are not pressurized, and must be served using a hand-pump. These beers complete secondary fermentation in the cask itself and are not pasteurized or filtered, which is why they are sometimes said to still be ‘alive’. The carbonation in cask ales is entirely natural, which results in a thinner body, making them dangerously easy to neck (or ‘chug’, or ‘pound back’, or ‘drink a whole beer in one night’ if you’re Neil). Thankfully most cask bitters are relatively low in alcohol (3 to 4.5%), which makes them quite conducive to such activities.
Neil: Generally, the history section of our breweries is pretty simple to uncover. In addition to a thorough Google search, we sometimes (improperly) reference real printed literature. As for our key feature, Morland Breweries, we had trouble. Their own website as well as my super-awesome “Designing Great Beers” textbook is surprisingly stark… Needless to say, employing Wikipedia yielded great results (I thank every deity, no, I thank the deity known as Wiki for this awesome gift bestowed upon man).
It turns out, Morland breweries actually does have a long history dating all the way back to 1711, when John Morland abandoned farming to start his brewery in Berkshire. After starting his brewery, his name soon became known in the public houses (aka.pubs), which led to the acquisition of the Abbey Brewery in Abingdon. Moving further ahead in time, Morland paired with Thomas Skurray (an astute businessman), and essentially waged a game of “brewing Risk”, wherein he bought out several breweries in the immediate area and added these brands to his own (As an aside, the production/consumption of beer does not typically lead to sound strategy in the board game, unless your goal is to get everyone else shmammered.) In 1944, these companies were merged into Morland and Co., which continued through until 2000, wherein it was bought out by Greene King brewery.
Closer to present day, Old Speckled Hen was conceived in 1979 as a commissioned brew from MG Cars. The beer itself was designed as a standard English Pale/Bitter, and brewed with a specific gravity of 1.050 (see, 50!). Interestingly enough, the name was derived from an old MG release that gimped around the brewery, which was highlighted by a gold and black speckled paint job. The people there called it the “Owd Speckl’d ‘Un”, which eventually became Old Speckled Hen. Very quickly, this became the flagship brand for Morland and Co., and is often seen in both bottle and cask form.
Dan: In hopes of bringing to light some of the distinctions of a cask-served ale, I’ll be reviewing a pint I had while in Leeds, England. In case it was not already mentioned (not that I’d hesitate to mention it again), I am currently on a little jaunt around Europe. Being a good traveler, I’ve been sure to sample plenty of domestic brews wherever I’ve been, hoping to get a fuller appreciation for the culture in which I have embedded myself, or I just wanna get hammed and laugh at everyone at school/work this summer. Either way, according to my drunken notes, I tried 21 new beers in my 10 days in England. Of these, Old Speckled Hen on cask was far from being the winner. Though it showed up in my glass as a perfect shade of copper, the dense, creamy head (a product of some cask pours) made it difficult to discern much of any aromas. Sipping did indeed show some improvement however. Caramel and toffee paired up with a bit of an apple flavour to make for an OK beer. The real highlight however was the mouthfeel. Despite its higher alcohol content compared to most bitters (5.2%), the thin mouthfeel makes this one very easy to drink, and a dangerous choice when taking on English drinkers who are used to downing seven pints by seven PM. Overall this isn’t a bad beer, but do not think that it is representative of English brewers’ capabilities. In general, I would compare Greene King brewery to someone like Rickard’s in Canada. Their beers aren’t offensive, and they’re making attempts at styles beyond pale lagers, but you’ll have to resort to some smaller breweries to get some truly delicious, complex ales. [2.5/5]
Neil: It has been a while since my last sampling of Old Speckled Hen, and picking it up in the LCBO brought me back to the days where every European beer was a small bundle of joy (After a few, this turned into a bundle of drunken trouble too). Filling up my pint glass, I noted the carbonation was pretty low, which is typical of an English pale ale/bitter. What’s not normal though, is the lack of head retention, especially considering Dan mentioned his was too dense… Oh well, I believe that Dan got a fresher serving, but I reckon my home brews fare much better in this category, or so I like to believe ;). Overall, colour was a red-caramel, albeit a bit clear and watery (minus points!). Taking a quick whiff, I am surprised to detect some notes akin to Labatt Blue (Double minus points!), with some hidden notes of toffee. Fortunately, this didn’t follow through into the tasting. Remarkably, Old Speckled Hen actually has a decent malt profile, however as I mentioned before, it’s a little watered down. Overall, the beer was OK, but I would have liked experience far more depth and mouthfeel (You can also use this seemingly innocent beer comment to get one punched by your girlfriend, believe me, I’ve seen it happen to Dan.) [3/5]
Try it if you want, but your money would be better spent on: a trip to England and a few visits to a good pub. Failing that, search out cask ales in Toronto at C’est What and Mill St. Brew Pub.
Props to hops // Dan and Neil
Leave a Reply