LEXINGTON — Tucked away in a back corner of the Happy Grape Wine Bar in Lexington is a tiny English pub called Laxton Hollow Brewing Works.
Nothing fancy, just a compact narrow bar with three hand-pump beers: a bitter, a golden ale and a porter. On Thursday night the spot had its ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Last weekend I stood at this bar and ordered a pint of the Lord Badger bitter. The barmaid pulled off a perfect dark pint with a frothy head and stood it in front of me.
Taking my time, I took a good long sip and closed my eyes.
“He’s done it,” I thought, “he’s bloody done it.”
Who’s he? That would be local brewer Ken Dudley, who has recently launched a range of English-style, cask-conditioned beers for sale right here on my doorstep.
I couldn’t be happier about it.
I first spoke to Ken a couple of months ago as he was working on getting his brewery operation up and running. He grew up in this area, but it was while studying and working in London during the ’90s that he got a taste for cask-conditioned beer, or as it’s more commonly known in the UK, ‘real ale.’
“It was a completely different beer experience,” Ken told me. “When I came back to the U.S. I started brewing myself, but everything I brewed tasted like everything I bought.
“I wanted traditional cask, hand-pulled ale … eventually I realized I’d been waiting 20 years for someone else to do it, so I decided to do it myself.”
So what exactly is real ale?
It’s the traditional British style of beer, matured in the cask and served at cellar temperature without added carbon dioxide pressure. With less chill and fizz, more of the underlying flavor can come through, and it’s this lack of pressurization that means each pint needs to be either ‘pulled’ using a hand pump (as it is here at the Happy Grape), or served directly from the cask.
Occasionally, you will see a cask-conditioned beer on offer at a craft brewery in the U.S., but it’s typically a limited-time ‘showcase’ brew, often very high in alcohol and loaded with fruit or chocolate; a long way from the unfussy, everyday session ales that this style cries out for.
Ken explained that he’s spent years perfecting his current brews, and would road-test the product by taking his casks to parties and giving drinks away.
“People could be suspicious of what they thought of as ‘craft beer,’ but were often surprised at how much they enjoyed it. Thefact is I don’t really see myself as being in the craft market; I’m just in the drinks market.”
In some ways, he hasn’t made things easy for himself.
For example, he’s kept the name ‘bitter’ for his flagship beer, a common term in England for this style (and in fact often used generically to represent real ale) but perhaps a little off-putting for those in the U.S. not familiar with it. And it’s not even particularly bitter!
Another difficult sell: the beer is not served ice cold. But that doesn’t mean it’s ‘warm,’ as Ken pains to point out.
“It’s what we call cellar temperature, 50-51° F. Take a swim in that temperature if you think that’s warm! The thing to remember is the flavor opens up dramatically at that level, particularly malt flavors.”
Ken has called his operation Laxton Hollow Brewing Works and has struck an arrangement with Happy Grape owner Paul Smith to sell the beer. I spoke with Paul during my visit and found him full of enthusiasm for this new line of brews, which he admitted is completely new to him.
“Well, it’s not the norm, and I like not-the-norm stuff. We all had to learn how to pour it, and that’s been fun.
“It’s been interesting to see some of my regular wine drinkers giving it a try,’ he added. “I had an ardent wine drinker try the porter, and now that’s all he wants to drink!”
A porter, for those unfamiliar with this tipple, is the darkest of beers; somewhat like a stout.
To watch a pint of beer being slowly pulled by a hand pump is a beautiful sight. It requires the full attention and care of the barkeep throughout the pour; you can’t just flip a switch and walk away.
Behind the pumps on the night of my visit was Emily Wallace, a newcomer to this method of delivery and already lining up the pints like a true professional.
I complimented Emily on her good work and told her I used to work in a pub myself back in London.
“Oh so you know how to pull the reins back here, huh?” she joked, and I replied in all seriousness that in an emergency situation I would be happy to step in.
Taking another sip I mused again on how Ken has got it exactly right. Not that I am the final authority on these matters, of course – but as an English beer drinker of many years standing I can tell you this is unequivocally the Real McCoy.
And so many extra little details hit just the right note, like the artwork on the hand pumps and the beer towels on the bar. Even the size of the glasses: a British pint (20 oz) or a British half-pint (10 oz), along with a smaller ‘tasting’ size.
I’ll be fascinated to see how well these beers are received, and plan on dropping by regularly. To have a U.S. brewing operation that deals exclusively, year-round in cask-conditioned beer – this truly is unheard of, and I consider its arrival here in Richland County a very big deal.
I would have traveled a long way to try it, and I hope others will, too. The Happy Grape Wine Bar is located at 300 E. Main St., Lexington, Ohio.
Opening hours are 3 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 3 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. Laxton Hollow beers are available from 5 p.m. every day the Happy Grape is open.
