Ahhhh Square Nail I don’t know what you are, but I know how I feel. J’adore.
Publican House and I began our courtship over a glass of Square Nail at Volo’s Cask Days (I think). At the time, I thought I was drinking an India Pale Ale. Quite hoppy and dry, with a good bit of malt to the profile. Colour and body and mouthfeel all fit. I’ve spoken loving words about this IPA, to others and occasionally, when I’ve felt particularly alone, to myself. So when I went to the Publican House Brewery this past Friday, my first surprise was that (despite my own thoughts), this was not a brewpub (though they apparently do serve light food on the patio during the summer). My second was discovering their very nice Stout (review coming). My third was reading the back of the growler and finding out that Square Nail is listed as a Pale Ale. No sign of Elephants or Rajahs or Chai anywhere. I forgot to ask John, the brewer/owner two things. The first was “where should I go for lunch” (note to self and others: The King’s Crossing, while not bad, did not have a beer geek’s choice of beers on tap. Food was bar-okay, staff was nice, but beer, meh), the second was “What’s the deal, is this an IPA or a Pale Ale?” He gave me his card though, maybe I should e-mail. I’ll update if I remember to do this….
Anyways, I’m sure you want to know, (you’re still here, right?)
Poured from my favourite type of serving method, brown growler, that might have had a best before date (there’s a spot on the label to hand-write it in) if I hadn’t taken one before John was finished shrink-wrapping all the lids (yeah, that fresh. Don’t worry, this one won’t go off, I promise). The beer is a clear amber-brown with a surprising head from a growler, which dissipates pretty quickly, though leaves a ring. Aroma is immediately hoppy. Slightly pine-like, with some earthy tones I’m having trouble nailing down. There is a bready malt to it as well, which I think is creating a balancing act that is messing with my nose. This might sound bad, but it’s not. The hop is like the smell of peat fires, immediately familiar, but hard to nail down the details. The taste is much easier, a clear hop that tends towards citrus peels, and maybe hints of cedar. Malt is very clear on the mid-palate, bready and almost sweet ( it probably would be, if not for the dominant hops). Hops bite back on the finish, and clean up after themselves. A bit of a lingering bitterness, not distinct, just pleasantly reminding you of the beer. Mouthfeel is fairly light leaning towards medium. If it were more carbonated, I would likely have said light without any caveat. While I wouldn’t hesitate to offer most Pale Ales to uninitiated micro drinkers, I would tread carefully with Square Nail. The hops are big, and could easily scare a macro drinker off. That being said, I love this beer. Let’s go with it being an IPA for a moment: while most UK style specimens really seek to create some equal balance between the hops and the malt, and most USA style ones try to see how much hops you can fit in a brew-tun, this beer presents a very clear and present hop, that stands head and shoulders over the malt, but is still fairly approachable. Perhaps lager drinkers would complain it was too big, and hop-heads would moan it wasn’t big enough. But I’m not into extremes. And this beer comfortably, confidently kills. And I love it.
Cheers, John. Thanks.
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