Brew Log #044: Old Speckled Hen Clone
One of my favorite beers in the world is the Old Speckled Hen from Morland Brewing in the UK. It’s a classic pub ale style, with a light golden color, a sweet aroma, and a thick, malty flavor.
I can’t resist getting a pint of this or two whenever I go to Portland’s Horse Brass pub. Despite having I think two dozen constantly rotating taps of varying beers changing almost weekly, the Old Speckled Hen has earned a permanent place on their tap list, and rightly so.
This recipe is taken from the 2nd edition of Clone Brews, which I’m finding to be a great inspiration for a bunch of modern classic recipes. Had to make a couple modifications based on what I had on-hand.
[beerxml recipe=http://www.indigo-k.com/beers/old-speckled-hen-clone.xml fermentation=true]
Tasting Notes
2022/08/14 – Gravity 1.010 very cloudy, good malt flavor. Light amount of grassy hop flavor, good aroma. Not as sweet as my normal ESB. Not sure it’s really a good Speckled Hen clone, but it’s still really drinkable already at about 5.9% ABV. I could try to push it further on the gravity, but I think I’m going to just verify that it’s done and then keg it from here. Might add some gelatin to try to clear it up some more, though.
2022/08/21 – Gravity 1.005 Still pretty cloudy, color is maybe a little darker than before. Flavor has gotten a little more earthy, I wonder if it might be oxidizing a little in my bucket fermenter – a danger of having to remove the entire lid to take my sample. Moving it into the keg today, so hopefully I can lock it in right where it is. Might bring the keg to work to put it in the walk-in cooler for a few days, see if I can’t cold-crash the cloudiness out of it.
Final Thoughts
This one ultimately ended up being so good, I can’t wait to make it again. The cloudiness dropped away once I had it in the keg, and it poured nice and clean. The flavor mellowed a bit more as well, with the dark sugar coming through with an almost honey note. I think the big flavor difference with the Old Speckled Hen I get at Horse Brass is that there they serve it on nitro, not CO2. Makes for a smoother beer with a creamier flavor. That’s okay though, this one is still one of my favorite recipes.
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