I’m sure you can imagine the various and sordid titles that ran through my head for this review. In the interests of maintaining this website as a family friendly endeavor, however, I have refrained from using any of them in deference to a simple citation of the beer’s name. In fact, this is an excellent beer, and one that I feel needs to be reviewed.

Dirty Dick's is named for a pub in London owned by Young’s, which recently celebrated its 250th anniversary of operation. Supposedly the namesake (who, curiously was named Nathaniel, not Richard) was to be wed but in a great tragedy lost his bride the night before the nuptials could take place. He vowed never to bathe again nor change his clothes, and these were placed on display at the pub that survives to this day.

The beer is a brown ale, lightly so in color with mild carbonation and head and a slightly dry malty nose. The first time I ever tried this brew was at the NERAX show in Boston. NERAX stands for the New England Real Ale Exposition, and it’s a wonderful way to try some cask-conditioned ales that may not be available anywhere else in the country.

Dirty Dick’s ale was wonderful on cask, soft malty, slightly nutty, and a touch fruity from the cask conditioning. Soon after, the beer began to appear on store shelves in Massachusetts packaged in 550ml bottles. In the bottle, the beer pours to a deep mahogany color with a substantial, thick and meringue like head formation. The nose is pasty and malty, the palate rather mild and drinkable, soft malty, lightly nutty with notes of toffee and molasses. The beer finishes slightly sweet but is a very drinkable English mild.

This is a delicious session beer that is easily drinkable in large quantities, and the moderate alcohol content (4.1% by volume) helps with this. The website lists the following ingredients: Maris Otter pale ale malt, Fuggles and East Kent hops, roasted and torrefied barley, crystal malt and fermentation sugar.

Fermentation sugar probably means corn sugar, which though anathema to the German Reinheitsgebot is commonplace in many English ales. It adds a fullness to English ales that is quite unique.

Truly a remarkable beer. It’s a great brew for after work and before dinner in my opinion. I usually drink it at home, as I’m not convinced it’s a good idea to walk into a bar and explain that I’d like a Dirty Dick. Except, of course, at the pub in England. They’ll know what you’re talking about there.