I’ll allow a bit of “poetic licence” here – I (or, to be more precise, Sarah) came across a bottle of Oxfordshire Ales Pride of Oxford. The label states “brewed in Marsh Gibbon within the shadows of the spires of the Oxford Universities”. Now Marsh Gibbon is just to the east of Bicester, which must put the brewery about 15 miles from the closest University spire – long shadows indeed! No matter – I’m always prepared to support local breweries, and I suppose that this one is reasonably local to Reading. The beer – Pride of Oxford – is a 5% bitter, and I drank it with roast lamb (on Easter Sunday as it happens). It went very well – it is very bitter and very quenching. I see from the Oxfordshire Ales web site that they brew a cask version of the beer at 4.2% – but it is described as a seasonal beer (though there is no indication of what time of year it is available).
The bottle (and web site) also claim that the beer is “traditionally brewed for a contemporary real ale experience”. I’m still trying to work out what a “contemporary real ale experience” is – sounds like a brewery theme park!