Day 227: Old Speckled Hen

Name: Old Speckled Hen

Brewer: Greene King/Morland Brewery (Suffolk, England)

Classification: English Pale Ale

Alcohol: 5.2%

Thoughts: I mentioned earlier this week or last week that I have been watching James May Drinks to Britain. In the show James May and Oz Clarke are traveling around the British Isles finding the drink that speaks for Britain. Well I wanted a drink that seemed a bit "Old Britain". I don't think there is a beer sold in the US that is more "Old Britain" than Old Speckled Hen. It pours this amber brown with odd pink-reddish hues. The color is very different than most beers I've had. The head was very bubbly and off-white. The aroma was very malty and slightly skunky, not in a spoiled way, but in a nostalgic way. It does have this sense of 80 year old men sitting around in a London pub talking about World War II. The taste runs along that same line of yesteryear. It has a leathery, pale malt and dry hop flavor. There is a dash of pepper, a pinch of grass and even some tartness in the taste. I liked it, but not for the right reasons. I liked it because of what it meant, not for how good of a beer it is. In all honest it isn't a great beer. It is just average. 

Rating: 77/100