AF&TB: A Crashing Boar with Old Thumper!

by Beedo Sookcool
on 2011-01-15, 19:40:01

OLD THUMPER

Brewed by Ringwood Brewery in Hampshire’s New Forest, where wild boar hunting has been popular for centuries. (It’s called the New Forest because it was planted after 1066 specifically as a game reserve for Norman royalty to hunt in, and it got its name because back then, it was brand-new. Come to think of it, it still is, comparatively.) Ringwood’s trademark is a charging boar, and its various brews all have said vicious tusked porkers on the labels. Hence the connection with Gamorrean guards.

This “Beast of a Beer” is a respectable 5.6% ABV, and has won a Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Beer of Britain award in 1988. Its label touts a strong ale with a “spicy, fruity hop aroma and warming malty finish.” This is entirely correct. It’s a very good beer indeed, definitely in my Top 15, if not the Top 10. I would imagine it would go well with some nice, hot, fresh-off-the-bone roasted wild boar. It certainly goes well with a pork lunch tongue sandwich and Pigs-In-Blankets Pringles, which is the best I could rustle up at short notice at this ridiculous hour. An excellent beer for accompanying hot, savoury, filling winter meals, or for relaxing with after a hunting trip or a tromp through the woods. Or just because you want a delicious beer.

Drink this if you also like: Dark Lord, Guinness, any other strongly-flavoured red or dark beer with a kick in the aftertaste.