Victorian Beers Return to DC Courtesy of Ron Pattinson, Bluejacket, and DC Brau

Ron Pattinson, beer historian and member of the British Guild of Beer Writers, was in town last Friday visiting DC from Amsterdam. Seeing as it was his birthday, I asked Bluejacket and DC Brau if they’d host him for a birthday brew. Other breweries were of course interested (who wouldn’t be?), but Ron wanted to keep it in the District. So we did.

Prior to brewing in DC, Ron was at Maryland Homebrew in Columbia, MD, presenting “British Fungus: Brettanomyces in British Brewing.” Here he is (below) with event attendees and shop General Manager Chris Anderson. Thanks to beer judge and mead-maker Jamie Langlie for the photos.

In honor of Ron’s birthday, Bluejacket brewed an 1858 Barclay Perkins Whitbread Contract East India Porter. What’s an India Porter you ask? Well, it’s like an IPA…but a Porter.

DC Brau brewed an 1857 Whitbread KXX, a strong, pale, keeping beer, better known as a Burton Ale. It’s a recipe whose beauty is in its simplicity, a beer whose strength matches its bitterness.