Cruel Summer

The Washington D.C.'s metro area has an incredibly brutal summer season with blistering heat and humidity so fowl that even your sweat droplets have sweat droplets. To counter this I thought it would be a good idea to have a summer thirst quencher on our menu. Though marketed as an English pub ale on our menu, this recipe is nothing more than my take on English Ordinary Bitter.

That's right, "ordinary bitter"- its truely one of the awful style names that the world of beer has established and stuck to. First off these beers are not bitter,especially in the light of the modern appreciation for pale ales and I.P.A. and they can be far from ordinary when made right. Its been my experience that American beer drinkers don't take well to certain English monikers like bitter,mild or ordinary so....Cruel Summer it is.

Serving this beer via our nitro tap keeps this beer creamy and light in carbonation making it extremely quaffable since the alcohol is only 3.9%. An array of malted grains including a touch of wheat and British crystal malt help keep this beer light in body and give a touch of sweetness to balance the use of Fuggles and East Kent Goldings hops, two of the most traditional hops used in English brewing. Our house English yeast strain helps provide fruity esters to round out the beer making it a very refreshing bevergae because it's a cruel ... cruel ... cruel summer.