Ridgeway Brewing Bad King John

September 10, 2010

Score 2.5 stars out of 5

Craft Brewed and Bottled in England by Ridgeway Brewing, Oxfordshire, England.  The last of the bottles from my friend and colleague, Angela, I drank this one at home in Katy, TX while watching the NASCAR race from Richmond on TV.

web site for the US importer: http://www.sheltonbrothers.com/beers/beerProfile.asp?BeerID=287  

The bottle says:  “Bad King John is black …. Bitter …. Intense …. Like the ruthless man it honors. Do not come here looking for subtlety!”  It cannot be that in England, there will not be found one to fight for justice.  I challenge the privilege of trial by combat.  God willing, raise me up a champion.” 6% ABV.

The importer’s website says “It’s a sad tale, the closing of the venerable Brakspear brewery in Henley-on-Thames, where the most famous and surely the best Bitter in England has been made for centuries. The brewery, in operation since 1779, was sold off in 2002 in parts to make room for an upscale hotel, and everyone who worked there was let go, without so much as a by-your-leave. But for beer lovers, the closing was not a complete disaster. Thankfully, the master brewer at Brakspear, Peter Scholey, determined to strike out on his own. Peter has set up shop as Ridgeway Brewing, not so far from Henley, and already he’s putting out beers so good they could almost make you forget Brakspear altogether.

The Ridgeway Brewery is named for the ancient road – passable now only on foot – that meanders along a low escarpment across the high, rolling pastoral plain that is the southwest of England. The now patchy stone surface of the Ridgeway was laid by Britain’s oldest inhabitants – Druids and the like – thousands of years before the Romans turned up to build their own roadways. It is the oldest road in the British Isles and Europe, running nearly 100 miles, past that other ancient landmark, Stonehenge, as well as Peter Scholey’s relatively modern home, along the way”.

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy the beer very much.  It was flat and lifeless and had little taste.

The 121 people who drank this beer at RateBeer.com were more impressed than I (http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/ridgeway-bad-king-john/85204/ )  They gave it a score of 3.17 which puts it in the 68^th percentile overall and the 45^th percentile for its style of Stout.

38 people have rated this beer at BeerAdvocate.com.  They gave it a score of 3.7 which equates to a B = good (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/7944/43016 )