Hoptimist 3.8% Lemon Pale & Stinger 4.5% Nettle Beer IPA
Maple & bacon pancake stack. Blueberry & Madagascan vanilla cheesecake. Sour
rhubarb pastry. Chocolate & salted caramel cookie. Orange & passionfruit smoothie.
While these might sound like recipes lifted from a cookbook, they’re actually a few of
the beers I recently spotted in a local craft beer shop. The boundaries of brewing are
constantly being pushed, with brewers experimenting far beyond the traditional
ingredients of water, malt, hops, and yeast to create unique flavours and aromas. In
this month’s blog I’ll be exploring specialty ingredients and celebrating our two
seasonal releases that both include something a little different.
The first of these is Hoptimist, a 3.8% pale ale brewed with lemon peel to give a
zesty character. Using fruit in brewing is nothing new. Orange peel is a defining
characteristic of Belgian witbier, while whole fruits are often added to lambics and
other spontaneously fermented beers, such as the rising popularity of fruited sour
beers. For Hoptimist, however, the aim was not to create a sour beer but instead a
gentle citrus tartness that would complement the beer’s easy-drinking pale ale base.
To achieve this, we added the lemon peel late in the boil to preserve its aroma and
avoid any excessive bitterness. The result is a light, crisp and refreshing pale ale
with a citrus twist – for when life gives you lemons, make beer!
Our second seasonal release for this month is Stinger, a 4.7% pale ale brewed with
nettles. While this may seem an unusual ingredient in modern brewing, there is a
deeply rooted tradition of brewing with herbs in the UK. While mainland Europe
adopted the use of hops in brewing much earlier, it was not until around the 16th
century that they became standard in British brewing. Before then, hops themselves
were considered the “speciality ingredient”, leading to the distinction between ale
(brewed with herbs) and beer (brewed with hops). Brewers would often forage and
use whatever grew locally, including such herbs as yarrow, rosemary, mint, mugwort
and heather. For Stinger, we have teamed up with The Fold at Bransford who will
forage the nettles from their community farm. The nettles bring a subtle earthy
character, combined with the malty sweetness creating an incredible easy-drinking
beer judging how quickly the test batch of this sold out at the taproom and the beer
festival at Knightwick.
Tastes are always evolving. Sourness was once considered an off flavour in beer, yet
many brewers now deliberately introduce bacteria to create them. Hops were once
viewed as unconventional and niche but now drinkers are searching for bigger and
bolder hop character. Who knows what the next “speciality” ingredient will be?!
If you’ve tried anything interesting or unusual in a beer recently – or have any
suggestions for further brews – then let me know next time you’re in the taproom.
