History, in a glass

I had the fortune to try this beauty the other day. It's a traditional bitter brewed from an 1880 recipe by The Kernel brewery in Bermondsey. The recipe is from the Simond's brewery who used to be based in Reading, Berkshire next to the county lock on the river Kennet. Simond's pioneered pale ales and India Pale Ales, and sold much of their beer to the British army, eventually they were absorbed into the Courage brand and their hop leaf logo (see below) disappeared in around 1960.

This recipe predates the use of crystal malt in bitter and has a much simpler grist of Maris Otter and some Amber malt, it's flavoured with traditional Goldings hops from Kent. It's a lovely beer, great body, slightly sweet with a lingering flowery and earthy finish it's quite strong for a bitter at 6.5% ABV, apparently that was quite normal for the time, I guess there were empires to build and all that!