Billericay Blonde

[Wowbagger]

I don't know if there is a thread somewhere in here specific to ale appreciation, but if so, Mods please merge!

I have, on one or two occasions, tried the draught version of Billericay Blonde in my, and presumably its, home town. I recall it as being OK but not special. On Sunday, my brother gave me four bottles of the same brew, which he had thought or throwing away. They were past their "best before" date of November 2014.

It's a naturally conditioned ale, and I think they may have bottled it a bit too soon! I reckon I lost about 10% to effervescence and all the yeast escaped from the bottom of the bottle and made it cloudy. However, it tastes terrific! I don't remember the draft version tasting this good.

[Jurek]

...and there was I thinking that you were referring to someone I work with, but I now realise that she lives in Shenfield.

As you were...

[Wowbagger]

http://billericaybrewing.co.uk/ refers. Chapel Street - about half a mile from my place of birth.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I'm Billericay Blonde
And I'm making Bagger fond

[madcow]

Is she a past conquest of Billericay Dickie?

It is often the case that bottled beer is served too cold to appreciate the flavours .
Just goes to prove that"Best Before " dates are in most cases open to interpretation.

[jsabine]

With beer and cheese, best before dates are largely nonsense.

[citoyen]

Is she a past conquest of Billericay Dickie?

Well, Wowbagger is known to consort with Janet from Thanet, so in a sense...

As for best before dates, good bottle conditioned beers will actually improve with age (up to a point). This Billericay Blonde sounds like one of these newfangled trendy "golden" ales (ersatz real ale for lager drinkers, if you ask me). These tend to be made with high doses of aroma hops which will fade fairly quickly, so are designed to be drunk young - if your example is past its BBD, that probably means you're getting a more mature and mellow beer, probably not what the makers intended but all the better for it.

[Wowbagger]

Correction: I rendez-vous'd with Janet
Quite near the Isle of Thanet.

You may recall that you were there as well, at Reculver. That, I believe, to be quite near the Isle of Thanet.

I have met, and on more than one occasion bought beer from, the man who claims to have invented Brewer's Gold, the Crouch Vale ale that twice won, in consecutive years, the CAMRA Best Beer award, a unique achievement. He told me that creating light, golden ales with lots of hoppiness was indeed intended to lure the lager drinkers away from their tasteless suds.