January 27, 2009: Young's Special London Ale

It's the end of January, school has just started again this week and my days of playing video games in my underwear until noon sadly are over (for the next few months anyway) Yes, I hate to admit that it's back to the familiar grind of school and work for me, so instead of watching sportscenter and eating Top Ramen, I'll be writing essays and faking interest in 17th century literature. However, today is the first day of my last semester of college, and I couldn't be more ready to move on to the next stage of my life. To celebrate this momentous day, I've chosen Young's Special London Ale for my beer this evening.

If there is any one place in the world that I could chose to be at any given moment, it would be wandering around on the sprawling streets of London. In a previous post (see Quilmes) I confessed that I am an utterly hopeless anglophile. I love all things British and the magical city of London will always hold a special place in my heart. When I saw Young's Special London Ale sitting proudly on the shelf at my local shop, I felt my heart swell inside my chest with sheer joy mixed with a bit of longing. The label on the bottle sported some of the most famous landmarks from the London city skyline. Tower Bridge, Big Ben and the houses of parliament, the London eye; they were all there like a postcard inviting me back to my favorite city on earth. How the hell could I resist the call of Young's Special London Ale?

I will admit freely that I was totally suckered into buying this ale simply by the word "London" print on the label, accompanied by all the familiar monuments of the city. Luckily for me, Young's Special London Ale was actually a decent ale. It had a nice cloudy golden hue and it was just transparent enough to see light coming through the other side of the glass. One of the supposed earmarks of a quality beer is how long the beer keeps its foamy head, and whether or not that head leaves rings of foam on the glass with each sip. Young's Special London Ale kept its head longer than any beer that I've had so far, and there was conclusive evidence of the foam rings on the glass. All in all, Young's Special London Ale is a good choice for the beer drinker who likes a good sturdy ale, but one that's not too heavy or dark. I'd compare Young's Special London Ale to an ale like Boddington's in terms of mouth-feel and relative lightness for an ale, but not in terms of taste or quality. Give this one a go if you can get your hands on it, and if you're anything like me, spare a thought or two for that magical city across that pond that will always draw you back.

Cheers,
Ian

http://www.youngs.co.uk/beer-bitter.htm