Tasting: Devil’s Pale Ale 666
I mentioned a couple posts back that I picked up an “unusual” canned beer when at Sly Fox Royersford Wednesday afternoon. Some took that to mean I had scored one of the long-promised but elusive test cans of O’Reilly’s Stout, but instead it was the beer to the left, one of the best beers many of you have never heard of.
Nor had I, which is why I asked for, and received, a can from the five or six sitting in a tray in the cold room.
It’s brewed by Great Lakes Brewing (no, not that one, this one, in Ontario, Canada) and is a very, very good dark mahogany pale ale, with impressive hops in both nose and flavor, splendid malt backbone and the expected bitter finish, albeit with definite sweet and fruity notes.
Those latter are important because the always opinionated Alan McLeod at the Canadian-based A Good Beer Blog, suggested that it might well be an modern-day version of a classic Burton Ale, based on all its characteristics and the brewers’ notes on the can. I must admit that my not entirely trustworthy palate and grasp of long-gone styles would probably have not have led me to that possibility if I hadn’t gone online and found his post midway through the can, but I can certainly see it now.
That Alan’s evaluation was base in part on a recent post by the equally informed and opinionated Martyn Cornell and Martyn himself suggests in a comment to Alan’s description that he may have a point is, it seems to me, reason for more evaluation (and if you think that could involve another visit to the Sly Fox cold box…shhhh!).
Where is Mr. Beaumont on all this? 666 is brewed in his hometown, after all. Hopefully he will join the discussion here and not skewer me too badly in the process.
In any case, I’d gone into this with relatively low expectations and have been more than pleasantly surprised. I can understand why it’s become something of a house beer for Alan. I’d be delighted to add it to my frig on a regular basis.
(P.S. Do read the final comment on Alan’s post, or the 14th if more have been added—it’s by “wk”—which earns the poster a designation as a “silly moo.” I can think of so many people I could, and probably will, use that on. I’m looking at you, Usual Suspects, starting with the guy second from left in the back row.)
I had one of these at Mondial back in June, but I’ll have to be honest: it was ‘just a beer’ I was having while talking with friends old and new. Sounds like I maybe should have slowed down and enjoyed it more. Or maybe not; I enjoyed the conversations at Mondial quite a bit!
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