Day 31, Beer 31 - Cropton Brewery's "Two Pints"

Today's Beer

Name – Two Pints

Brewer – Cropton

Classification – Bitter

Strength – 4.0% ABV

Verdict - At A Glance

On the eye – A rich and vibrant copper glow. A very fine looking ale.

On the nose – Ginger cake and hay bales.

On the tongue – The beer known as 'bitter'... perfectly defined.

On the subject – Originally formed downstairs at the New Inn, Cropton's early successes led to expansion in 1994, and the brewery has gone from strength to strength ever since. This very beer was the initial spark for their success.

On the market – Potters Yorkshire Ales, or try the brewery direct. I'm sure they'll love it!!

On the whole – 8.5/10

Full Review

Simple, elegant, and quietly marvellous.

This modest little ale is a masterpiece of faithful execution.

In short – this is a bitter, it is bottle-conditioned at exactly 4% ABV, and it has a name which greatly underestimates its own appeal.

That last point is a crucial one, because a much more suitable name for this brew would have been 'Four Or Five Pints At Least' – so I'd say that's basically a huge numbers-based public relations error on the part of the brewery.

Sometimes modesty goes way too far.

The reality is that I can hardly think of a better example of a beer of this classification.

As a bitter, it's an exquisitely faithful rendition, it makes no attempt to 'jazz up' or contemporise the working model, and it chooses instead to grab the quintessential essence of this ale variety and bring that to life with the greatest possible skill and care.

On the downside, the bottled-conditioning performed its usual 'improving whilst also spoiling' routine yet again, and frankly I'm sick of bleating on about this.

There are various 'systems' of achieving the state of 'bottle-conditioning' and its fairly obvious that some of these systems clearly work better than others. I reckon this is THE aspect of production on which all brewers most need to focus and cooperate. 

Too many mililitres of fine beer are going to waste while us punters wait for an ideal delivery technique to arrive – one which adds yeast to the bottles, without that same yeast subsequently entering our glasses.

Surely that's not rocket science?

At least the Cropton Brewery folk have the guts to tell us on their labels that leaving the yeast behind is the thing to aim for. So many bottles from other brewers these days are telling us that cloudy drinks are a valid option – an absolutely fine choice for those of us who prefer to pour our beer rapidly to ensure a good head.

When was the last time you heard a landlord try that kind of line in a pub?

Why do these breweries insist on trying to put a positive spin on cloudy home-drunk beer being consumed as a lifestyle choice - purely to excuse the yeast they leave in our drinks?

Don't tell us cloudy beer is a okay. Or a cool choice for those who prefer. 

It is not okay. 

Nor was it ever okay.

Cropton Brewery know this, even if they haven't yet mastered the elusive art creating of a bottle-conditioned beer with a guarantee of clarity.

The fact is, when such a beer finally does exist, most of us will inevitably gravitate to it.