Review Date 9/8/2011
Try?
Re-buy?
I had heard some really good things about Pretty Things Saint Botolph’s Town Rustic Dark Ale, you see. Actually, the name itself sort of caught my attention when I first heard it, both that of the brewer and the beer. Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project is the name of the brewing company. Technically, they are a contract brewing company based out of Somerville, Massachusetts, with no brewing facilities of their own. Instead, they have their beer brewed to their own specifications by Just Beer in Westport, Massachusetts. Just Beer used to be the Buzzard’s Bay Brewery, though they’ve killed off that brand and changed their name.
Saint Botolph’s Town Rustic Dark Ale was on my list of beers to bring back to Georgia with me during my recent summer vacation in Rhode Island. A stop at Haxton’s Liquors on Toll Gate Road in Warwick, a favored beer store of mine for many years when I lived in neighboring West Warwick, proved fruitful and I scored some of this treat. It was very reasonable, too, at about $5 for a 22-ounce bomber bottle.
The beer is loosely styled after the famed Yorkshire Ales of England, one of my favorite styles incidentally. The brewer web page says this beer is open fermented in open squares ala the Yorkshire brewing system, but interestingly they use German and Belgian yeast strains rather than an English one. Oats and wheat supplement the barley malt, and sugar is added for body and richness. The final product is a delicious malty dark beer of 5.9% alcohol by volume.
As to the name, I’ll let the brewer explain that:
The name "Saint Botolph's Town" is in tribute to our great home in America: Boston. The original Boston in Lincolnshire, England is an abbreviation of "Botolph's Town" or "Botolph's Stone".
Pretty Things Saint Botolph’s Town Rustic Dark Ale pours to a murky dark brown color with a thick, long lasting creamy tan head formation and a simply magnetic rum-raisin nose. The palate is dark, sweet, rich delicious malt all the way, and the brown sugar and molasses notes hit you first and in a big way. Then there’s a subtle hint of coffee, stronger notes of raisin and figs, light chocolate, and spice. In the finish, a bit of roasted malt and hops balance out perfectly with an ever so gentle bitterness that dries all that sweet malt to perfection. Absolutely luscious. Definitely in the Yorkshire Ale frame of mind with all that sweet dark fruity malty goodness going on.
The bottle I picked up was packaged in November, 2010 and is labeled as Batch 8. Drunk in July, it’s wonderfully delicious, and has held up well to about 9 months of shelf life. I wish I had picked up more, as this is one of the best new beers I’ve tasted this year.
And remember, try a new beer today, and drink outside the box.
*Pricing data accurate at time of review or latest update. For reference only, based on actual price paid by reviewer.
(B)=Bottled
(D)=Draft
