Unionbridge, Bitter

was doing a little reminiscing last night, I was watching a few videos and thinking about my carefree younger life where aches and pains were transitory, and anything seemed possible. I thought about the long nights in pubs with multiple pints of bitter beer and how, in my memories, I never had a hangover and was able to operate as a capable human being the next day. These sorts of memories required a bitter beer to bring those memories to life.  

In my imagination a bitter beer is brown and smells of a slightly sweet malt. This one ticked all those boxes and with it came memories of long summer evenings with good friends.  

I settled into this lovely smooth and comfortable beer with a malty aftertaste and a trove of youthful memories, it was as if I had found an old photo album full of blurred pictures that mean the world.  

How could I not like this beer? I was raised on similar stuff. 

The Suburban Brew, Flat 5, English Special Bitter

I’d spent the evening making things with plums, I had stewed plums, plum jam. plum paste and a very messy kitchen. It made me think of my home when I was young and that made me think of bitter. I’ve drunk a lot of English bitter, it was my drink of choice for many years so this beer had a lot to live up to. I wanted it to give me a taste of home.

I took it out of the fridge and let it warm up. Anyone will tell you that there is no point drinking bitter ice cold, it just loses all the flavour. This of course doesn’t mean it should be drunk warm. It looked right in the glass. It had a satisfying foamy head and lovely deep brown colour. It looked slightly muddy but I was willing to ignore that.

It tasted wonderful: malty, bitter and an almost toffee after taste. It brought to my mind cosy country pubs and long cold nights that end with eating fish and chips from paper on the way home. This truly was an English Special Bitter and I loved it. I will be seeking out more.