"Svend" (svend)
12/13/2013 at 03:07 • Filed to: None
1
9|
"Svend" (svend)
12/13/2013 at 03:07 • Filed to: None | 1
| 9 |
I've had my eye on a small keg of Ale (5litre) at work, thinking about my next few nights off and how it'll be the perfect beverage to celebrate the occassion. Well last night I bought one and left it in the staff refridgerator to chill over night, ready for the morning.
What I didn't know was it's history and it's origination. Then I looked at the side and it had something I never noticed before.
Old Speckled Hen took its name from an MG car which was used as a runaround for workers in the MG factory. Over years of service, the car became covered in flecks of paint, gaining it acclaim in the town and earned it the nickname "Owld Speckled 'Un", translated into Old Speckled Hen for the brown ale first brewed by Morland in 1979 when the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was asked by MG to create a commemorative beer for the factory's 50th anniversary. Daniel O'Leary, a cooper and former brewer, developed the recipe for the beer. Ian Williams was a personnel officer at the MG factory in Abingdon in 1979 and it was he who thought of using the name for the new ale.
After the MG factory moved in 1980, production declined and Old Speckled Hen was almost exclusively available in !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! operated by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! due to financial constraints and a different direction being taken by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! - believing its future lay in the production of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . Within a few years, Morland began to re-explore ale production, reviving Old Speckled Hen and launching the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! version in 1990 with considerable success, with Old Speckled Hen proving to be a beer that Morland could market outside their own estate.
This is my morning tipple and shall not only be celebrating a couple of nights off work but a little bit of British automotive history in liquid form.
Youtube video for you I've found also.
One of theoriginal bottles.
The car of which they speak of as the Owld Speckled UN.
puppyknuckles
> Svend
12/13/2013 at 03:22 |
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If this is true then I like this beer even more than I already did. Which is a lot. So good.
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Svend
> puppyknuckles
12/13/2013 at 03:34 |
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I've been drinking it for years at local pubs and never knew the history of it.
I took a picture, but it keeps (I believe it's called 'Kinja'd') omitting it, but will try again.
But here's a link if it doesn't pop up.
http://www.oldspeckledhen.co.uk/
rabidpenguin
> Svend
12/13/2013 at 09:38 |
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I purchased a 4 pack of this a couple of years based only on the description on the bottle. I hated it, it just didn't taste right. Maybe a I got a bad batch that sat on the shelf or something.
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Svend
> rabidpenguin
12/13/2013 at 09:49 |
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I'm down to my last litre and it's still flowing beautifully. Some ales are an acquired taste. I myself got into Guinness at 14 when my pints of lager and beer were constantly 'swiped' whenever I turned my back. Tried a Guinness a few times and noticed nobody ever touched it, so became my drink. I now hunt it out like deranged dog when ever I go to The Nederlands, Germany or Poland.
I recommend giving it another go at just colder than room temperature and putting away to the back of your mind any previous expiriences or thoughts and taking it for a new experience. At room temp can taste flat at stale, too cold can over sharper the flavours, but at the right temp with no preious thoughts on it can really enlighten you.
It has been said that all beer tastes awful and that were trying to find the right one as to why we drink so much.
All I say is keep trying, whats right for one may not be right for another. It'd be awful if we were all the same, it';sthe differences that make it such a beautiful world and not just a sea of grey.
What I also like about it is the history. It wasn't made as a new drink to entice people or to add sales, but to commemorate an occassion that no-one could envisage to be so important even if only to a few so many years later.
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rabidpenguin
> Svend
12/13/2013 at 10:01 |
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I think the one I got sat on the shelf in the store for a while, it is not something the often carry. I had it cold out of the fridge, next time I will let it warm a little like you suggest.
To each his own, I totally agree.
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Svend
> rabidpenguin
12/13/2013 at 10:13 |
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True.
If you try it and don't like it and you happen to be in north England area I'll give your car a free detail (I don't charge anyhow as it's a relaxation thing) for your car, takes about eight hours top and bottom.
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rabidpenguin
> Svend
12/13/2013 at 11:48 |
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Thanks for the offer, however living in New Jersey I don't think me or my cars will be jumping across the pond anytime soon.
I am jealous that you guys get some many low hop bitters beers over there. They are kinda hard to come by here with all the rage into IPAs.
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Svend
> rabidpenguin
12/13/2013 at 12:16 |
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Sorry. I took it you were a Brit.
There are a massive range of IPAs available from mainstream breweries not to mention the vast number of micro breweries. One local pub has a nine different ales in it's own microbrewery.
FelixScout
> rabidpenguin
01/24/2014 at 16:24 |
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There's quite a few Bitters and ESB's to be found in the US. Here's a couple lists to tempt you:
English style Bitters