Rich and malty

Sebastian Morello on the ales of The Chiltern Brewery

Ever since the 1st century Roman general St Eustace, whilst out hunting with his hounds, was granted by heaven the miraculous vision of a great stag with a crucifix poised between its antlers, there has been a deep relationship between our holy religion and the pursuit of quarry. Indeed, six centuries later, St Hubert was granted a similar vision, after which he became a bishop and eventually was named by the Church the patron saint of hunting. The monks of St Hubert in the Lowlands of northern Europe bred the famous St Hubert hound, from which our foxhounds, bloodhounds, beagles, harriers, and hunting bassets are partly descended.

Divine grace enters nature from without and transforms it from within. To the degree we fly from nature, we retreat from the arena where grace can operate and lead what God has made to its proper finality, Christ’s own kingdom. There is no grace in The Metaverse. The Catholic, then, is a natural outdoorsman. I learned this as a schoolboy, when I would often go up to Shropshire on the weekends to follow a pack of beagles for which a schoolfriend was a whipper-in. This friend was the only Catholic I knew, and he didn’t only help to plant the seed that would grow into my conversion to the Faith years later, but he also fostered in me what became a love of houndwork.

Whilst out in the hunting field, towards the close of the Season, I recently discussed these topics among others with a friend—a traddy Catholic who got me back into hunting with hounds after a regrettable interlude. Hunting gives rise to a tremendous thirst, which is only properly satiated by old English ale. Fortunately, that day’s meet had taken place a stone’s throw from my favourite brewery in all the world: The Chiltern Brewery.

A traditional Catholic needs a traditional ale, and that is exactly what The Chiltern Brewery specialises in. You will find none of that inexplicably popular, urine-coloured, over-hopped, fizzy, sour, American-style, hipster battery-acid at The Chiltern Brewery. Rather, this family-run business excels in brewing rich, malty, lightly hopped, old ales that one could well imagine being served in pewter mugs at the 111th birthday party of Bilbo Baggins.

Located on a working farm in the heart of the Chilterns, the brewery was founded in 1980 by Richard and Lesley Jenkinson, and is now run by their sons, George and Tom. According to them, the brewery was founded “to produce natural, wholesome beers using the best, class A malt and hops sourced in England,” adding that they opt for “age-old methods” by which their “beers are brewed with skill, passion, and integrity.”

Certainly, their most popular beer is their traditional ale, Beechwood Best Bitter. This was their first ale, and the recipe—using Maris Otter and Crystal malts that give it its amber colour and nutty base, as well as Challenger, Fuggles and Goldings hops, creating a delightful toffee aroma with a fruity finish—hasn’t changed in forty years. The Monument Pale Ale, combining honeyed malts with the light citrus of British Cascade hops, makes for an excellent summer session beer. My favourite of those available in the bottle, however, is the Three Hundreds Dark Old Ale, a truly satisfying, rich, heavy beer with a long, pleasing finish.

On draught, besides their everpopular Beechwood Best Bitter and their pale ale, one will find the excellent Chiltern Black, a perfect all year-round old-style English porter with a toffee-ish taste, hints of roast barley, and being gently hopped, culminates in a long, chocolaty finish. The Chiltern Ruby is a wonderful, full-bodied ale which, for some opaque reason, drinks very well in autumn, and marks an experience not entirely dissimilar to eating a fruitcake. The Chiltern Ruby ale was the result of a collaboration between the brewery and the good chaps at the Campaign for Real Ale, and has become extremely popular.

My absolute favourite beer from The Chiltern Brewery, however, is their Christmas seasonal ale, Festive Foxtrot. This beer, the perfect winter-warmer, evoking all those smells and spices of Christmas, and arriving right in the middle of the hunting Season, is really as good as English ale gets.

My fellow hunt-follower and I arrived at the brewery and drove through its gates, under an arch upon which is emblazoned the brewery’s motto: Fear God and give Him the Glory! A dictum that one finds on all the brewery’s bottles, kegs, and even on their beautiful tankards which can be bought in the brewery shop. These words are usually also inscribed just below the brewery logo, which is an image of a fox with a very full brush standing in front of a beech tree.

As it happens, one can only purchase beer at the brewery to take away, as they do not have a working bar. Thankfully, there is a splendid pub half a mile down the road in which Chiltern ale is the only ale going, and where the food is good too, and so we were duly directed to this old-fashioned tavern where we drank, ate, and made merry in honour of St Eustace, St Hubert, and their happy collaborator, St Arnold of Soissons— patron saint of beer!