Day 513: Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog

I've  been chewing on this for awhile. 

There are days I feel like I've grown up and there are days that I still feel like a kid discovering the world. I prefer when the latter is the more dominant.

And in some fun musing-beer review symmetry, today's beer of choice is the Smuttynose Really Old Brown Dog ale. It's an old ale or a stock ale.

What's that you ask? Old ale typically is laid up to mature--becoming "old" if you will. Style notes indicate the color varies from rich, dark amber to a very dark brown. The style features fruity, vinous and deep malty flavors, giving it almost port-like qualities. Slight acidity is not uncommon.

So how did I find the Really Old Dog? It poured a dense, dark brown color with a loose, bubbly light tan head. It smells hoppy and kind of like cold pumpernickel bread. There are hints of licorice as you drink it and inhale and exhale thoughtfully. (Oh yeah, I'm a good time at the bar!) The flavor reminds me of a bitter cola...sort of like a coffee bean without the coffee flavor...just the green bitterness. It's a heavy beer--both in alcohol content and consistency.

Beer stats

Style: Old ale or stock ale

ABV: 10%

IBUs: Unknown

Rating: Good

Previously reviewed from Smuttynose

My review of Robust Porter

Gary's review of Finest Kind IPA

It's Not Unusual

Beer #349 Old Peculier / T & R Theakston, Mashom Ripon, England
Beers to go: 17

Finally, we've arrived at the last Friday of the Penn State football season.  This of course means I'm not at work, but I am furiously working to get the tailgate prep taken care of.  Hearing snow showers in the forecast for Saturday.... can't wait!

Hopefully everyone has survived their hangovers/food coma, and is back in business today.  Please be nice to other people if you're out shopping.  Nothing says 'spirit of the season' like getting into a road rage incident in the parking lot because you're furious you can't find the Cabbage Patch Kid your little tyke has been whining about.  The 349th beer of the year is a bottle of Old Peculier, an old ale from T & R Theakston in England.  This ale has a dark mahogany color with a wispy off white head, and your nose finds the aroma of plums and malt.  The taste is a rich mix of raisin, honey, toffee, and malt, with a clean, slightly bitter finish.  Nice beer, particularly for a winter's day.  This beer takes its name from a court opened by the Bishop of York in the 12th century.

This  is not odd.

This brewery traces its history back to 1827 when Robert Theakston took over the Black Bull Inn and began brewing beer.  His sons Thomas and Robert took over the operation after his death, and they registered the name T & R Theakston for their "new" brewery.  The brewery was sold back in 1984 and eventually bought by Scottish & Newcastle, but members of the Theakston family bought the brewery back in 2003. Good bit of history on their website, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

Thing to Think About Today:
While this beer is Peculier, it's definitely not unusual.  Therefore, let's have Tom Jones close out our Friday with It's Not Unusual.  Enjoy a sunny fall afternoon, everyone!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSCnHtugSWg

Beer 344: Things Peculiar and Peculier

Peculiar: adj.

1. Unusual or eccentric; odd.
2. Distinct from all others. See Synonyms at strange.
3. Belonging distinctively or primarily to one person, group, or kind; special or unique: rights peculiar to the rich; a species peculiar to this area.

i.e. Yesterday's tailgate.

It lasted 13 hours only to be interrupted for a few hours by a football game. And what a game it was! Penn State destroyed Indiana to the tune of 45-22 and left a number of PSU football records in tatters. But from that high came a very, very low. It looks like senior Michael Mauti is out for the season with a knee injury. This wasn't the way his season was supposed to end. Not for one of the most passionate leaders of this team, who managed to keep it mostly intact as the world tried to tear it apart.

The team rallied around their fallen leader and played some inspired football yesterday afternoon. What did we do? We rallied and tailgated like it was our last days on earth.

We were among the first in the lot at 7:23 a.m. and we were definitely among the last as we put a fork in it as the clock neared 9:00 p.m. We ate taco dip like it was our last meal. We plotted a gangnam style flash mob. We worked out our MC Hammer dance. There was a dance off with a neighboring tailgater -- the poor thing had no idea what hit her! I finally figured out how to do the running man, which by the way has given me Mike-Mauti-sympathy-knee-pain.

There were six tailgaters at the start and six eggs. There were six tailgaters at the end and no eggs. That's dance cooking style.




Now for the Peculier...the Old Peculier from T&R Theakston Ltd. . Theakston is one of Britain's few remaining family brewing companies and Old Peculier is the beer for which they are renowned.

It pours a deep, dark brown with a light tan head. It smells like molasses and rich malts. It tastes like a mash-up of tea, malt, fruit, molasses and bits of raisin with a bracing hop finish. I couldn't quite place the fruit until I read the official description. It's black cherry. The ABV is 5.6% and it's quite drinkable. This is a great beer.

Cheers!