Englasnd vs USA

World Cup is upon us. Saturday Mike and I went down to Blind Lady to watch my first match ever. Doors opened at 11, but anticipating a crowd we went early. We barely got a seat and I waited approximately 20 minutes for a beer. This was the only time we waited and we did go back plenty of times.



Green Flash was being showcased Saturday. Unfortunately they were still cleaning the lines for the beer engine so the English Bitter on cask would have to wait. So instead I tried it on tap. It was a good Bitter. Not sure how English it tasted. Green Flash usually punches you in the taste buds with hope. They definitely toned it down to mimic the English subtle hop flavors in their Matt's Bitters beer. I'm a big fan of British beers. I don't like them as much as our So Cal varieties, but they're good. They're extremely drinkable. Unfortunately the originals (Fuller's London Pride) is also extremely expensive coming in at $11.99 a six pack and $3.49 for 16.9 oz bottle. Even though this is slightly hoppier than the original, for the money, which I a guessing will be $7.99 a six pack it is a great value. I have yet to see this in stores either in a 6 pack or 22 oz bottle. The beer board at BLAH did say that it was new. It may take a couple weeks to get out there.

Green Flash Black Freak. In my head this was a black lager and Green Flash Le Freak mixed together. Turns out it is Green Flash's sour beer. It was an extremely mild sour. If you haven't tried a lot of sours this would be a good first sour.

I also tried New Belgium's Eric's Sour. This was more of what I expected from a sour. It actually tasted like sour patch kids but only when it first hits your taste buds. It was lacking something on the back end.

Mike came back from the bar with the Bitter on cask for me. I love it when friends know exactly what you need. Having visited London a couple times and fallen in love with cask ales I opt for them whenever possible. Even if I'm not craving that style of beer I will usually get it. This Bitter was perfection cask. The hand pump gave it that creaminess. I could honestly drink this all day. Green Flash needs to find a way to distribute this in the UK. It will give their local beers a run for their money.