WHAT -upon- A TIME!
People, that was not sane. 178 years after this beer was first brewed on Brick Lane in London, our facsimile titled "Once Upon A Time: MILD" must have stirred imaginations! You arrived in the dozens, if not hundreds. You waited in the rain. You dressed in period costume (or as near to it as you could) and really elevated to the spirit of this event. Yesterday Deep Ellum WAS a city center London pub circa 1832.
So we had two casks. One is shown below, a wooden "pin", lent to us for the day by Will and the great folks at Cambridge Brewing Company. That was tapped by Max, stilled on the bar, and poured via gravity. Below, in the cellar we had a full firkin of the ale served via "beer-engine" to the upstairs bar. This is an historically appropriate method: we checked, and the beer engine was invented in 1797. Many of you were much smarter than me and thought to order from both casks. Thankfully you're also very kind since many of you allowed me to taste both from your glasses, and shared your opinions on the difference as well. Soon you'll have an opportunity to try this beer in a third milieu: bottle.
I did my best to set the stage and speak about the beer. Even without the benefit of my first pint I found it quite difficult to get the English language out quickly! But in some ways I'm very much an outsider with this beer. It's true: this beer was sort of like a "contract-brew". I was only able to take it from paper to liquid, no chance for interpretation, no attempts to gild the lilly. In that sense it was an exciting beer to make, or watch unfold as it were.
Watching everyone having such a great time, meeting many of you was a true pleasure.
Max and the retinue at the bar slung ale to us hoards as we expanded out back to the "treehouse". What larks!
You all rock. Let's do this again sometime!
Here's to onwards, upwards and backwards!
Dann
- Dann's blog
- Login to post comments
