Mercury Brewing Company - Ipswich Original Ale

Named one of the World's Ten Best Beers by Wine Spectator magazine, Ipswich Original Ale has won recognition over the years as one of the finest American-brewed English-style pale ales—and that's saying a lot. Expect an orangey-golden color with a fair amount of haze from yeast in suspension. There’s quite an earthy and woody aroma upfront, with moderate caramel, lightly toasted grain, a notable straw-like character, and a very light underlying citric impression. On the palate, the toasty, caramel notes come through with moderate sweetness, with a well-balanced moderate hop bitterness as a counterpoint. There are some fruity esters mixed in on the mid-palate of this medium-bodied brew, and it finishes with a lingering spicy hop note as the malts fade away with a nutty hint. Great balance, tons of character—we love it! Pair with some English Stilton cheese, or a Welsh-style rarebit.

The roots of Mercury Brewing Company go back to the founding of Ipswich Brewing Company in 1991. In 1999, the former Ipswich brewmaster, Rob Martin, bought the brewery from founders Paul Sylva and Jim Beauvais, and while Rob may have changed the brewery name, the Ipswich beer family has been around twenty years now. One of the most amazing things about these brews is just how good they are when you consider that these three guys came from careers totally unconnected with beer; Paul was a psychologist, Jim worked in the software industry, and Rob was an architect. Yeah, that expertise just screams good beer, doesn’t it? Well, maybe so; these brews are well designed and engineered (thanks Rob!), well thought out, and thought provoking (thanks Paul!) and technically sound (thanks Jim!). Okay, maybe we’re reading too much into it, but it does go to show that for those with a great passion for brewing (who are also good homebrewers like these guys were when they started out), it doesn’t matter too much what your day job is. The fact is, the majority of brewery owners and brewmasters in this country don’t come from brewing families, nor did they start their careers in the brewing industry. Instead, most of them found their purpose in life after spending tons of money on college and then discovering that they hated their jobs! (We’re sort of kidding here, but it’s actually a scenario we’ve heard so many times from so many brewers it seems to really be the archetypical story.) The brewery is situated in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in the “North Shore” area, on the seaside just north of Boston. The area is well-known for its excellent microbreweries—a reputation that the Ipswich and Mercury Brewing Companies have done much to foster over the last two decades. We’re a big fan of the fact that they embrace the English tradition of offering cask ales to local pubs. Mercury also owns the Stone Cat line of beers, and brews beer for a number of other lines on a contract basis. They’ve also come out with a complete line of hand-crafted soda-pop and a mustard imbued with Ipswich Oatmeal Stout. And, we have to mention this: you can rent one of their Tapmobiles for special events, to enjoy up to eight of your favorite Ipswich beers and sodas from taps running along the side of a classic old delivery truck converted into a party-mobile extraordinaire. How awesome is that?! For more information about the brewery, their beers and sodas, and scheduled tours, call (978) 356-3329.