Pints from the Past

     Recently, I was inspired by another beer blog.  Norman Miller, who it feels funny to refer to as another beer blog writer because it implies we're playing in even remotely the same league (he's kind of a big deal), posted a blog about "Forgetting the Classics", in which he espoused the importance of revisiting the beers of your past, all while slightly admonishing himself for not doing so nearly often enough.  By the way, if the tacit plug for another blog (there's that comparative again) wasn't enough for you, you should be reading Beer Nut.  In fact, I'd go so far to say that if you're reading this regularly but haven't read Norman, you've got priority issues.

    Anyway, Norman got me thinking.  I've talked before about the beers that got me into craft, showing me there were wonderful things beyond the walls of the fizzy yellow water I thought beer was... but even though I can tell you all kinds or where and whats and exciting tales relating to these beers in the past, most of them I haven't had in quite a while.  So, I did something about it.  I went out and got the five beers I remember drinking the most from my formative craft beer years, and tasted through to see how my opinions about them might have changed.

    First up was Ringwood Brewery's Old Thumper, which I had more times at the venerable Coat of Arms in Portsmouth, NH than I could possibly count.  Of course, the version I had there was always on cask, so this was certainly a bit different.  Still, I figured everything would be close enough to count, and I'm not about to install a firkin in my kitchen.  Right off the bat, though, this beer was very different from what I remembered.  It had a cidery nose on it, which actually made me question if I had a bad bottle, but I couldn't really detect any fruit esthers in the taste, so I ruled out acetaldehyde (oh, go look it up).  There was some malty sweetness up front that mellowed out as the beer warmed, but it retained a very dry mouthfeel and a bitter aftertaste throughout.  I'd go so far as to say bad aftertaste, which I attribute to the Ringwood yeast.  I've picked up a distaste for Ringwood that I certainly didn't have lo those years ago.

    Next, I continued reliving my Portsmouth days with Theakston's Old Peculier, which I'm quite sure young Tim originally ordered based on the name.  While that's often not a great strategy in beer, and even worse in horse racing, this beer became a semi-regular order from me for a good window of time.  This was a lot more even a beer than I found the Thumper to be.  Good roasty caramel qualities, very smooth.  I didn't want to note anything about smell because even though I rinsed the glass, it still smelled of fruit esthers and Ringwood yeast.  The label noted Fuggle hops, which were either so mild as to be almost undetectable, or this beer is so malt forward that I didn't get much of it.  But don't get me wrong.  I found this to be very pleasant

   Back in my salad days (which, ironically, didn't include nearly as much salad as my current days) I discovered Wells & Young’s Brewing Company's McEwan's Scotch Ale quite by accident.  I remember distinctly ordering an Old Peculier and them being out of it.  The bartender recommended McEwan's instead, and I got hooked.  I also remember how sad we all were when the importer dropped the license for this beer, but the General Manager of The Coat of Arms got as much of this as he possibly could when that happened, so we got to enjoy it for a few months more.  In fact, I think we all drank a lot more of this from then on because everyone wanted to be the one to drink The Coat out of the stuff.  But enough story... on to the tasting.  First thing I picked up was, of course, sweet, sweet booze.  I remember this feeling heavier back in the day, but I didn't really getting any alcohol burn or overt "big"ness this time around... just sweet.  Both in smell and in taste.  Smell had some chocolate notes, as well as a nice oakiness.  The taste was a little less nuanced.  As it warmed, some caramel came out.  It was quite nice, but I remember this being a bigger deal for me.  I don't know if this is a slightly different beer than what was imported before, or if my tastes really have changed that much.

    So, just as The Coat of Arms was a very formative pub for me, so was The Barking Dog Bar & Grille in Amesbury, MA.  In the time I spent there, I can remember two beers I drank for more than any others.  The first of which was Abita Brewing Company's Turbodog, which simply had to be another case of me ordering something based on a cool name.  On this tasting, though, I found this beer to be the biggest departure from what I remembered.  Very powerful roasted malt smell, but a VERY thin mouthfeel, which is also contrary to my memories of it.  Being so big on mouthfeel as I am now, I can hardly imagine liking this as much as I did.  Some toffee flavor, but far less robust than I recall, too.  This tastes like what it is, basically... a somewhat darker version of a brown ale, and not one I'm finding myself loving so much any more.

    Up last is the beer that, more than any other, opened my eyes to the craft beer world.  Thanks to this beer, I also visited my first craft brewery... and it was all uphill from there.  I speak of course of Berkshire Brewing Company's Coffeehouse Porter.  For a change of pace, compared to my experiences with the re-tastes above, this actually had MORE coffee flavored than I remember.  But now I found that it had an almost syrupy quality to it.  Almost like a coffee extract rather than hints of coffee.  The smell and the flavor were almost too much at first.  As it warmed, it picked up a bit of sweetness that helped round it out a little bit... but it still straddled the line of too much.  Seriously, in the past I remember the coffee being barely detectable in this.  Either my palate has got way better, or they upped the ingredients.  I still quite enjoyed this, but it's very different.

    Of course, I suppose it would be kind of odd if these beers didn't wildly depart from how I felt about them in the past.  My mouth is a different person now.  But all in all, I found this to be a fun little adventure down beer-memory lane.  Oddly enough, I'm really good about revisiting beers I remember not liking to sort of challenge my perceptions and try to find things to appreciate... but I've clearly been lax in doing the same with old favorites.  And I would encourage anyone who's been drinking craft beer for long enough to pick up one or two (or five) beers you haven't had in a good long time and give them a go.  You'll probably be surprised, one way or another.  Your mouth is a time machine!  Use it!