If you don’t know about Ron Pattinson, you probably should. He’s an affable crank – you wouldn’t object to such a description, would you Ron? – a highly observant fellow, a beer historian who borders on the obsessive – see above note, Ron – and an entertaining writer.
I mention all of this because Ron has just posted a series of observations following two recent and rapid fire trips to the United States. (Ron is a Brit based in Amsterdam.) You can go off and read them all here, but I thought one was particularly worthy of note.
The hop bombs aren’t as crazily bitter as I had expected. 90 minute IPA I had feared would be more of a challenge to get through. In reality, it was in the same ballpark as the Bitters of my youth. Things like the original Barnsley Bitter.
There you have it: So-called “extreme” American ales aren’t extreme at all. They are, in fact, just Americanized versions of traditional British best bitters.
Trust Ron to skewer yet another North American preconception…
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