| Each year at the Great British Beer Festival, over 700 cask-conditioned ales vie for the title of Champion Beer of Britain, fondly known as C-Bob. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), host of the festival, takes beer more seriously than any other organization in the world, so to be named C-Bob is no small feat.
In the 25-year history of the award, only one brewery has produced three winners. Fuller, Smith and Turner, or Fuller's, has recently made two of their three former C-Bobs available in Alberta. Fuller's London Pride, its flagship brand, and Fuller's ESB, the original extra special bitter, are now available in finer liquor stores.
London Pride is a "session ale" – a beer of lower alcoholic strength and moderate flavour that is meant to be consumed in quantity over a long "session" at the pub. In bottled form, the beer is 4.7 per cent ABV (alcohol by volume, as opposed to the common U.S. practice of measuring by weight) and is, as all English ales should be, only lightly carbonated. The light carbonation combined with a moderate body gives the beer a soft presence in the mouth. The beer slightly favours the bitter side, but there is good malt presence, and while the hop flavour is subdued, it is very pleasant.
The ESB style of beer is often copied in North America, but in its native England, ESB is a trademark and therefore only Fuller's produces it. Extra special bitter is not extra bitter – the "extra" refers to body and strength. At 5.9 per cent ABV, you shouldn't drink more than one or two – which is unfortunate because you will want to. The balance of this beer is slightly to the malty side, although its finish is decidedly bitter. The malt presence is absolutely delicious and the hop bitterness lingers wonderfully in the back of the mouth. As the beer warms, greater hop aromas and flavours emerge.
From a brewing perspective, London Pride and ESB are interesting because they are, notwithstanding being very different on the palate, actually the same beer – sort of. The beers are brewed simultaneously using a system known as partigyle. Under the partigyle system, sparge water – the water that is run through the grains to extract their sugar – is split into two batches. One batch consists of the early sparge water, which contains more fermentable sugar, while the later batch contains less.
The two batches of sparge water, now called wort, are hopped and boiled separately. The two batches of wort are then combined in differing proportions to produce different beers. In Fuller's case, four different beers, including London Pride and ESB, are produced from one batch of grains.
While this might sound like cheating, be assured that CAMRA would never accept a substandard beer. Economic efficiency and practical reality are not relevant in awarding C-Bob – only flavour is. So while the partigyle system is intended to allow the brewer to get more bang for his barley, Fuller's proves that it’s not necessary to throw gobs and gobs of money at a beer to make it a great one.
ELUSIVE BREW
Another former C-Bob, Coniston Bluebird Bitter, was also recently available in Alberta, but future shipments will not be coming any time soon due to the closure of its brewing facility. Coniston is searching for another brewery, but, meanwhile, if you are fortunate enough to find any Bluebird Bitter left at your local beer retailer, buy it and cherish the way its pomello and mango hop flavours add complexity and character to its lightly toasted malt base. It may be a long time before you taste another English ale this fine. |
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