These days, spartan breweries with stainless steel decor are everywhere, serving hoppy and more hoppy options. For 25 years, English Ales has done something different. Design-wise it’s homey, with a wooden bar and decorative tchotchkes. The beers are English-style, malty varieties, mellow to drink.
Since April, new owners have been at the helm, but Mark Francis is keeping a lineup that works. After all, the Big Sur Golden Ale and Fat Lip Amber are mainstays on taps all over the region. But a few weeks ago, Francis released his first new beer, a malty red ale named Joy Juice. While he uses California-grown grains, they are still British style, and the effect is much the same. “Just being malty versus hoppy stands out right now,” Francis says. “The British-style hops are a key for this old style.”
The name pairs with the bar’s Spitfire Room, and Francis says former owner Peter Blackwell had a fondness for British Spitfire airplanes of World War II. During the height of the war, the story goes, pilots filled external fuel tanks with beer to deliver to soldiers in Normandy; they called it joy juice.
Both name and style reference history and his English Ales predecessors. “I wanted people to know I’m not just making some random California-style beer. Legacy matters,” he says.
Next up is a toasted tiki coconut golden ale. Francis expects just two new additions per quarter. “My goal is to keep it simple,” he says. “We have a core British beer line.”
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