This beer featured in BEER November 2009 in a piece about strong ales for winter.
ABV: 10%
Origin: North Weald, Essex, England
Website: www.pitfieldbeershop.co.uk
Pitfield's 1896 XXXX Stock Ale
Pitfield Brewery is one of the pioneers of the British microbrewing revival, originally set up in 1981 in Pitfield Street, Hoxton, in the days long before the area became associated with edgy club culture, as a home brewing and specialist beer shop. In its latter function it was one of the first in the UK and over the years introduced grateful drinkers not only to British craft brews but to all manner of imported delights from mainland Europe and elsewhere. In 1982 a brewery was added, which gained a high reputation in the second half of the decade for its innovative and award winning premium strength Dark Star. By 1990 the original partnership had dissolved, and though the shop remained open, brewing ceased for a while, then two successors emerged: the Dark Star brewery in Brighton and, from 1996, a revived Pitfield Brewery in Hoxton, which as it progressed into the new millennium specialised more and more in organic beers. In 2006, under pressure from rent rises thanks to neighbours who fancied themselves as New British Artists, the shop closed and the brewery relocated, along with a mail order service, to Essex. As of 2008, there’s a retail outlet once again, as part of Ashlyns Farm Shop.
Just before closing in London, Pitfield had been experimenting with a fascinating range of historical recreation ales, departing from the general organic policy in order to source relatively authentic ingredients, and many of these are still around since the move. Stock Ale is made from Maris Otter barley malt, crystal malt and Northdown hops, following a recipe in the Durden Park Beer Circle’s book Old British Beers and How To Make Them. Stock ale was a term for a very strong ale, kept for long periods at a brewery and often used for blending.
Issues of the beer are now vintage dated, the most recent in 2007, but my first taste of it was in 2004, when I discovered a slightly fizzy peachy amber beer with a yellowish loose head and a dusky orange aroma, with stony hops, roast malt, olives, pepper and spicy hints that reminded me of the Indian breath freshener, pan. A thick and full bodied but dry palate had herbal hops and salty bitter orange, and a warming swallow led to a dry hoppy and smoky mouth-filling finish with more bitter orange and alcohol rounding off a vivid and characterful beer.
See next post for more strong ales.
Read more about this beer at ratebeer.com: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/pitfield-1896-xxxx-stock-ale/27423/
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