New Albion Ale

I was planning to do some cooking with beer so I gave the beer guy at my go-to beer store a list of the styles of beer I needed and let him make the selections.

When he handed me this one I didn't give it a second look.  I just stuck it in my cart and kept right on going.

Then when I got it home I pulled the bottle out and was intrigued by the bottle design .  I had never heard of the brewery so decided to investigate it a little.  I was majorly disappointed to discover it was brewed by Boston Beer Company.  I assumed it was another beer being disguised as a craft brew by a macro-brewery.

Good.  Then I didn't feel so bad about dumping it into my dutch oven with a bunch of chicken.

And then I dug a little deeper.  And was actually impressed. 

The New Albion Brewing Company was founded in 1976 and was arguably THE  microbrewery that spurred the ever growing craft beer movement.  In it's heyday New Albion brewed 7.5 barrels of beer per week that sold every single bottle to a ravenous beer loving public at an alarming rate.  Unfortunately, they were never able to brew enough beer to make a profit and six years later they went out of business.

New Albion Ale is a collaboration between Jim Koch of Samuel Adams and Jack McAuliffe former owner/brewer of the now defunct New Albion Brewing Company.

Together, Sam and Jack revived the original thirty year old original recipe and brewed up New Albion Ale.

That's pretty darn cool, if you ask me!

Thankfully, I didn't have to use all the beer in my recipe.  So, I was able to have a taste of this historically significant brew.

New Albion Ale (6% ABV) pours a clear pale gold with a bright white head.  

The aroma is malty with a hint of orange and floral hops.  

The flavor is a little on the light side, but it's tasty just the same.  The malts and hops balance nicely creating a lightly sweet though pleasantly bitter ale.  It finishes nice and crisp with a nice yeasty undertone, leaving you wanting for another sip.  

This is a very quaffable, refreshing beer.

I won't lie and say this is the most amazing beer ever.  But the history behind the brew is pretty neat and the beer is pretty good, too.  Overall: very good.

Click here for the recipe using New Albion Ale for my Beer Braised Chicken recipe.