RCH Old Slug Porter (Cask)

[MeridianFC]

Oh, Meridian if only you can find something valuable to do with yourself of a Thursday night. If it's not wagering money on the turn of a card, you're after necking pint after pint of cask beer with no thought for tomorrow. Oh, what a world!

So we return once again dear viewer to the scene of the crime. If it's Thursday it must be cask night. If it's cask night I must be drinking. In this installment we visit scenic Somerset, England, via 18th Street, home of the RCH Brewery. Today's presentation features the elegantly named Old Slug Porter. The brew is served gravity dispense right from the bar. Mr. Harrison, him what owns the Reef, mentioned that as it was raining (spitting more like) he thought the Porter would go down a treat. Initially I thought I was in the mood for something lighter than a porter but I was thinking with my American Micro mind.

This porter pours a delicious black, maybe not black as night, you can certainly see the promise of amber at the bottom of the glass, but plenty dark so as to not be mistaken for anything but the famed drink of London's working men. The bubbles are of the large soapy variety that dissapate quickly (out, out brief candle). The nose. The nose! There's that initial aroma that can only be British cask beer. Hops are hinted at and a bit of sweet malt and very, very slight roastiness. The first taste is smooth with a slow build up of hop, the mild (?) taste of roasted malt and rapid, though not overly so, finish. Very smooth, very quaffable, which I mean in the best possible sense. Not as bracing with the malt or body as the typical American Porter, which tend to really accentuate the roasted malt portion of the grain bill, but full flavored (flavoured if you will) none the less. Yes, this is a pint a working man (or lazy bald headed good for nothing such as myself) could really wrap his mitts around. After a hard day lugging suitcases (or entering data) this would fortify and slake the thirst. A winner.

If this beer was a movie it would be "A Hard Day's Night". Typically British with a subdued sense of humor (or humour if you will) that's solid enough to be viewed time and time again. It's old and new, completely timeless. I say old man, it's your round innit?

RCH Old Slug Porter
starring Malt, Hops, Water, Yeast
filmed in glorious Gravity Dispense Cask-O-Vision
Rated 4.3%abv
Coming soon to a tavern near you!

[steveh]

A most elegant and charming piece of literature disguised as a beer review! Then again, it t'was the malt beverage providing inspiration to many of the masters. ;)

I had some similar impressions on English ale from a bottle of Fuller's London Pride last evening - alas, no review this time.

Based on the insight of this recommendation, I can only hope the Old Slug is slithering toward a tavern near me.

S.

[chazwicke]

The Old Slug was one of the top 3 at the FAB fest in Miami based on judging by different affecianados. I found it quite pleasing and was sorry not to have located the Reef that evening as per my post in another thread. One of these Thursdays!

[chazwicke]

I found some Old Slug in bottles on my way out to the beach. I purchased two along with some other beers and my father in law ended up drinking both. He said it was one of the best beers he had ever had. Unfortunately, I did not get to sample it. I like it very much on cask but the bottled version will have to wait.

[denver brewhoo]

There's a brewery named RCH? When I was a young lad laying sewer, gas and water pipe all over Northern Virginia for William A. Hazel, in 20 foot deep ditches in August --temp 90F, humidity 90%, wind speed in bottom of said ditch 0, giving a wind chill factor of, oh, about 140 freakin degrees--by the way, if you want to make an ice cold Budweiser taste good, I recommend the foregoing from about 7:30 am (OK, I admit, at 7:30 AM it was only probably 80 degrees, and the ditches were probably only about twelve feet deep) to 5:30 PM--anyhoo, back in them bad old days, a RCH was----

a unit of measurement.

[chazwicke]

You certainly got our August weather conditions right! I purchase mulch from Hazel's mulch yard and have had some minor dealings with his brother John "Till" Hazel. He bought the 515 acre tract that belonged to my ex father in law and the house that I was living in back in the early 80s. Now a huge Subdivision in Burke, VA.