English Ordinary Bitter

Well looky look at that - I finally jumped on the Instagram bandwagon and can now take my own faux artsy photos without busting out the DSLR and Gimp. (Although it is pretty nice to just snap a quick shot on the phone and have something that looks reasonably good...)

On to the real subject of the post. Jeremy and I brewed 10 gallons of English Ordinary Bitter (using the recipe in Brewing Classic Styles.) Having previously mentioned my relatively newfound appreciation for truly sessionable beers, I am really happy with how this turned out.

It clocks in at 3.8% and packs a ton of flavor for such a small beer. There's a lot of toasted malt character and a hint of fruity esters from the Wyeast 1968 (London ESB) strain. The hop bitterness is restrained, but definitely present. Even with the relatively low CO2, it still has a nice creamy mouthfeel and a rocky, solid head.

Short of the Ginger Wheat I brew every summer, this is the smallest beer I've made yet and honestly probably one of the best. The recipe is dead simple (Marris Otter, Crystal 120, Special Roast and East Kent Goldings) but the flavors are all in balance and it just works.

We entered it the Two Brothers Hop Juice Competition and I can't wait to get a score sheet back on it...