DuVig Brown Ale

DuVig Brown Ale
Generous 4 oz sample, 5% ABV

Sampled at the brewery, Branford

brownThe World Cup is in full swing as I write this. In fact, the US just (finally) beat Ghana yesterday after losing to them in 2006 and 2010. Ghana! What are the chances that we’d be grouped with the same small western African nation 3 World Cup finals in a row?

(Actually, when one takes the time to parse the impossibly convoluted FIFA rules surrounding World Cup finals grouping, after taking the time to sort out who really has a shot at making the finals from CONCACAF and Africa, it’s really not all that crazy.)

But do you know what really IS crazy? International soccer on the whole. It’s why I love it, actually. For instance, the 2018 tournament begins next summer, in 2015. That’s right, it is a 3-year process and pretty much every country in the world technically has a shot at this thing. From The Faroe Islands to Afghanistan to FIFA-recognized Palestine to Somalia to Bermuda to St. Kitts & Nevis. Everyone starts each tournament anew.

Here, look. Back in July 2011, the first round of Asian qualifying began. And WHAT’S UP VIETNAM, with their 7-1 destruction of Macau. (My wife is Vietnamese, so we’re totally invested in their national team’s rise to world domination.)

DuVig says:
I couldn’t find anything.

VIRGINSThe more soccer-rich nations, of course, get to skip the first round(s). Yes, even the US gets to skip the first round where all the Caribbean and central American nations you didn’t know existed play each other. I imagine the British vs. US Virgin Islands matches were rife with tension. (This is an actual picture from the first USVI vs. BVI match which was won by the USVI. Their first ever FIFA World Cup victory!)

Do you think the British Virgins prefer English mild brown ales and the US Virgins counter with boldly hopped IPAs? At what age do we stop wondering why they are called The Virgin Islands?

Brown ale is, for me, the beer I associate with jolly old England. Newcastle and the like. A good brown ale can be delicious; malty, smooth, slightly bitter. I’ve had a few good ones in Connecticut, but one of the best was a low ABV session mild brown up at Cambridge House Brewpub. Turns out, it was “guest-brewed” by Dana Bourque who know runs Firefly Hollow Brewing in Bristol

So how would DuVig’s session brown compare? Quite well, actually. I’d buy it. It was not as roasty and toasty as you’d find in other brown ales, but it was malty and dare I say chocolatey. It’s a bit sweet and has no hoppiness or alcohol whatsoever. Just a pure, clean, slightly sweet brown ale.

The kind you can serve at an all-day soccer viewing party and no one will get too stupid drunk, yelling jingoistic taunts at no one in particular.

And that is, of course, what DuVig wants: longer drinking sessions with their stellar, if slightly tepid, initial line-up of straightforward beers.

Overall Rating: B
Rating vs. Similar style: B+

DuVig Beer Brewing Company
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