Jasper Murdock’s Oh Be Joyful

Once one of the tiniest breweries in the country, Jasper Murdock’s Alehouse, located in Norwich, Vermont, enjoys a reputation as a high-quality brewer of mostly English-style ales. It brews enough beer to supply the Norwich Inn, a pretty bed-and-breakfast type place on the main street in Norwich with an excellent pub on-premise.

Jasper Murdock’s has been brewing since 1993 at the Inn, always with the same English bent in mind. While most of the beer stays right there, enjoyed by diners, the brewery also bottles some of its beer, 22 ounces at a time (fortunately for those of us not within easy driving distance).

I’ve visited a few times in the past 12 years or so. The brewery used to have the quaint practice of selling the bottles of beer inside, and placing them on the back doorstep for picking up on your way out. What they have on a given day really depends on what they decided to bottle recently given demand at the pub.

I hope that’s changed, but I’d have to ask my friend MM, who came into town recently for a visit and to hang out with friends at Brooklyn’s Split Thy Skull beer fest. He came bearing gifts, among them beer from the Alehouse, including their lovely Whistling Pig red ale, and this, the Oh Be Joyful English-style dark mild.

What does Jasper Murdock’s say about this beer? Glad you asked: Vermont’s soldiers in the Civil War used this name for the often frightful concoctions they fermented from hardtack and other camp supplies. We use the moniker as an invitation. Despite its earlier incarnation, we think you’ll like this, a classic English Mild Ale. Light and refreshing with very little bittering hops.

Naturally, that doesn’t say much about how it tastes, so that’s hopefully why you’re still reading. Oh Be Joyful pours a perfectly clear, medium amber; I can’t seem to scare up anything resembling a head in my nonic pint glass, so I manage to fit nearly the whole bottle’s worth of beer in this pour.

Aromas of, well, grain, a little corn even, are present, a little hay — basically, it smells like fresh English malted barley. There’s barely a wisp of grassy hops in the nose as well, and it’s ever so slightly musty. In short, it has the standard English mild aroma profile.

True to the mild style, the Oh Be Joyful is pretty much solid dry maltiness start-to-finish. The English hops (which may have been grown at the Inn) are firmly in the background, allowing the malt character to stay front and center. Even the fruitiness that the yeast would normally produce is restrained. It finishes dryly malty, of course, and though it’s strong for a mild, at a reported 5% abv — milds typically weigh in under 3.5% — you wouldn’t know it from any part of this drinking experience.

So yes, I do enjoy this beer, but I’m a little sad. You see, milds are really tough to come by in the US. Even in England they’re fairly tough to find, except during May, termed Mild Month. They’re fairly fragile beers, and really best bottle-conditioned or in a cask instead of a keg, which limits who brews them (or ought to). Still, once in a while you’ll see them on tap or in the bottle shop. Defiant Brewing, out of upstate Pearl River, NY, does brew a Little Thumper which is a close approximation of a mild, and which we do find in casks around the city. Otherwise, you can find good English bitters at New Beer Distributors on Chrystie Street; Wells Bombardier is farily light in body, as is Coniston Bluebird Bitter, if you can find it. Stone’s Levitation Ale is one of the better widely-available American takes on the bitter style, and is worth a look, too.

Better yet, head to England and seek out mild, such as Lee’s Mild, and drink it at great length. It’s really the best option!