Sometimes when I’m shopping for beer I just grab something I know absolutely nothing about and hope for the best. It keeps me honest, and it ensures that I know what’s out there, even if I don’t like it in the end. Once in a while I discover a beer or brewery I really like (as was the case with Left Hand and Dogfish Head) and at other times it’s a complete dud (as with the Super-Duper Hopmeister ^2 or whatever it was called).

Yesterday’s beer was an organic English Ale from Duchy Originals, about which I knew absolutely nothing. Today I find out that it’s actually from a line of products put out by the Prince of Wales to promote organic and sustainable farming and food production – kind of the Newman’s Own of Britain. It’s an interesting concept, and the beer was a very pleasant, quaffable ale. It was actually just what I was looking for last night, smooth malt flavor only lightly hopped, and, at least according to the website, very responsible:

Our organic ale is brewed in Oxfordshire using malted barley, hops, yeast and water. The barley, grown at the Home Farm at Highgrove, is an old variety called Plumage Archer. It was developed in the 1900s and was the first barley bred specifically for commercial malting use. Hops add bitterness and aroma to the beer and ours come from England’s only organic hop growers in Kent and Worcestershire.

The website lists only UK locations, but it’s obviously entered the US market, so if you are in the market for organic ale give that one a shot.

Post from: EveryJoe

The ale of princes