Colonial Mayhem

Some time ago, a strange American cast a shadow over the door of the pub we used to own. He asked for a room for the night and some food and beer. As it happened, I got my guitar out later and we sat and played music in the bar. We talked about beer, brewing and the like, and discussed hops, especially the West Coast American varieties. I told him I used Cascade and Willamette in some of my beers.

"Well, funny that, 'cause I live in The Willamette Valley" my new found American friend declared.

Ted Sobel was his name, and although he seemed to have a fondness for beer with extraneous air, and delighted in a little "oxidisation" as a beneficial feature, it did seem we had a lot in common.

Some time later came the now legendary email entitled "Greetings from Oregon and an unusual enquiry" or something very similar. Ted, as I've probably re-told on many occasion on this blog, came back to the UK to learn a little from the British way of doing things. He returned, several times, and then went back to Oregon and set up his "Anglo-American brewpub" one of the few places is the whole of the American continent one can purchase true Real Ale.

Ted came to see us late last year and we brewed a beer.

Here is a video about the beer.