REVIEW: Duchy Original’s ORGANIC English Ale (uh… hooray for organic…)
By Captain Beer on Sep 23, 2007 in Brew Reviews
Hello beer readers. It was quite a weekend. Private Pilsner came down to stay with Mrs. Beer and myself on Friday and treated us to a 12 pack of Red Hook’s fine ESB. Then we went and got another 12 pack of some pedestrian American lager. Then… later we went and got another. It was raining which is exciting for Southern CA so uh… we had some beer. Then the next day Kolonel Tripel and his frau came to stay with us and Sgt. Stout stopped by and… we all had a lot of beer. Because beer is great. Oh my is it ever. I digress…
Anyway, so a couple of days ago I had Duchy Originals [sic] Organic English Ale. Barley, hops, water, yeast. Standard. Dammit, I HATE slamming non-mass-produced crapbrau, but… this beer was extremely underwhelming. It uh… OK so it had a little hop flavor… less than any fine pale ale or even most bitters but there just wasn’t enough malt flavor to compensate. The yeast ended up too… “tasteable” and the hop too “underused in the brewing process.” I feel the folks at Duchy, good men I’m sure, got too excited about the “Organic” thingy and let the “make a unique and good beer instead of plastering USDA and Organic and such all over our bottle” aspect. I’m not one to say that this beer wasn’t good… it just wasn’t special at all. I would, next time I stood before the beautiful chilled shelves of beer beckoning from so many fine establishments, just get a sixer of something safe and standard like Sam Adams or Harpoon instead of this beer. And man, all beer worth drinking is organic enough. Just a lotta talk and a badge! Used goods used goods!
Bummer man. That rain session was epic.
Private Pilsner | Sep 24, 2007 | Reply
I believe it was the great Hellenic-era philosopher Testikles who said “epic rain breeds fields of wheat, wheat can be used to make beer. And barely, hops, water and yeast. Anything else is total B.S. except occassional wood chips and fruit stuffs… or even some nuts and stuff if we’re going, well, nuts. And uh… we may look to the heavens but in doing so our eyes miss the chance of glimpsing that which they may change.”
Captain Beer | Sep 25, 2007 | Reply
Mellow out, dude. The organic badge is not some nerdy marketing tool. Well, not at least for small brewers growers who are committed to sustainability and craft brewing. Macro brewers who shall go nameless but whose initials are the first letters in the alphabet (and even some microbrewers) have lobbied hard to diminish the credibility of the organic seal by including hops on the list of non-organic ingredients allowed in organic beers. Support the brewers who are trying to develop organics and use sustainable practices. They’re trying to save you drunkards from yourselves by making a quality product free from the crap that is sprayed on your barley, your wheat, your hops and either ends up in the beer or in your body by way of the food cycle. Organic beers are “extreme beers” in their ethos. Drink that, captain.
Orlando Segura | Sep 26, 2007 | Reply
My problem is that the beer I consumed was not very good. At all. I take umbrage with THIS organic beer’s tacit suggestion that by being organic it is inherently good. “Organic” is all fine and good, but it in no way compensates for mediocrity in flavor. Dammit.
Captain Beer | Sep 26, 2007 | Reply