Epic Epicurious

A real ale has always been the given companion for a paperful of Fish’n'Chips, but what about a nice Tagliatelle alle Vongole or a nice seafood soup? Apart from the blokes down in Belgium who will gladly drink a heavier Belgian brew together with their Moules, white wine is usually the drink of choice when it comes to salty sea stuff. But is there any other drink that could marry with the fresh saltiness of sea food?

Along comes Cropton Brewery, a wonderful brewery in Yorkshire, England (who also make arguably the best beer in the world – Monkman’s Slaughter), with the Pullman Pint.

The Pullman Pint is an ale light-brown in colour – not the redish shade of brown that half-dark ales so often possess, but truly brown.

When I first smelled this pint I was a little surprised – it smelled a lot less of roasted barley than I expected! In fact, this aroma is fresh, slightly metallic and salty,  and it tastes just the same. It is as light in flavour as a well-brewed lager, while still allowing for some great complexity in there, too. You get the smoothness and metallic thirst-quenching qualities of a lager, but also the serious bread tones from a heavier ale. What makes this pint truly unique, however, is the tangible yeast.

The yeast is what makes this ale the perfect drink for sea food, way surpassing white wine or Belgian beers. It is salty. It leaves a taste of sea, of fresh shore breezes and beaches. This, of course, has the downside of not being a very suitable ale to drink as-is, but bear it in mind if you’re ever out to try some fresh shrimps and you happen to stumble upon some well-assorted store that specializes in English microbreweries.