This is no time for neutrality. Burton is my favorite beer destination in the UK, and the Burton Bridge Brewery Tap is where I head when I get here. The hotel in town is the Three Queens Hotel, which is reasonable in price and very comfortable in a mid-range way. It’s also across the street from the Burton Bridge Brewery.
The Brewery started up in 1982, owns four pubs in Burton, and brews traditional ales ranging from a golden to a stout. They supply about 300 pubs across Britain.
The flagship beer, Burton Bridge Best Bitter, is to me everything an English bitter should be. It’s beautifully balanced, noticeably hoppy, with a crisp and clear mouthfeel. At 4.2% it’s not really a session beer, but one can drink it all night and it never gets tiresome.
The brewery tap pub is one of the great places in the world to enjoy an English ale. This is the epitome of a local pub. Both management and customers are welcoming and gracious. If you visit the odds are high you’ll be the only foreigner. Drink quietly for a while, greet others with a smile, and soon you’ll be deep in conversation.
This last visit I got to see the local skittles league in action. They meet upstairs in a room that has seen many uses over the years. The skittles alley is about 50 feet long, surfaced in rough wood. Skittles pins are like New England candlepins; there are nine of them, placed wider than our bowling pins. The center pin is bigger than the others and is worth two points. The skittles ball is hardwood, a bit bigger than a softball, without finger holes, and in this case very worn and rough.
The pins are surrounded by rough boards and netting. This is all manual pinspotting. It’s quite possible to bowl a ball, miss all the pins, and have the ball rebound from the back wall and miss the pins again. A player gets three balls. After that he walks down the alley, collects the balls, and sets up the pins for the next player.
The alley is heated by two coal fireplaces. The fires were lighted before the league meeting, but the first of three matches was noteably chillier than the second and third matches. I enjoyed watching with a pint in my hand and my rear centered in front of an open coal fire.
As you can imagine, there was lots of beer and repartee involved in the matches. Bruce Wilkinson, one of the founders of Burton Bridge Brewery and head brewer, was a participant. Thankfully, his brewing skills significantly exceed his skills at skittles.
Locally in Portland, Maine, Burton Bridge beers are available in bottle on occasion, particularly the Empire IPA. Better yet, Eric Michaud at Novare Res has a firkin of Burton Bridge Best Bitter and expects to put it on soon. Do not miss this fabulous cask ale!
February 5th, 2009 at 8:43 am
Eric has a firkin of the Best Bitter? That sounds lovely. Let me know when he puts it on. I haven’t been into Novare in about two weeks, and I’m starting to get that itch.
February 5th, 2009 at 10:44 am
On Deck at the Great Lost Bear
BURTON BRIDGE BITTER 4.2% ABV FROM BURTON UPON TRENT IN STAFFORDSHIRE, A CASK-CONDITIONED CLASSIC BITTER WITH A DRY HOPPY AROMA & A LINGERING BITTER AFTER-TASTE.
February 8th, 2009 at 3:48 am
Hey Jan, you actually told everyone about the Burton Bridge bitter at NovareRes, are you sure there’ll be enough left for them……. nice blog, makes me thirsty, and it’s only 9:40am here