3 Kings – 4.4% Dry Stout
As 2024 draws to a close, our final seasonal of the year is a return of a favourite from last year, which sold out to pubs before we’d actually released it! 3 Kings is a dry stout, jet black in colour and with a roasty coffee and slightly smoky character from the black malt added to the grain bill. For a slight twist on the traditional style, I’ve added Mystic hops, which impart a fruity blackcurrant overtone to the malt flavours. I enjoy coming up with new recipes and seeing how they turn out, so it’s rare that we repeat seasonal beers – so you know I must be happy with it!
A lot of attention is given to different hop varieties, but there’s often less focus on malt. In fact, while there’s an approved list of barley varieties to grow for malting, most brewers probably couldn’t actually tell you what they use (heritage varieties excepted). That’s because unlike hops, the different malt types used in the brewery generally all come from the same barley, and the way they are processed is what results in the big differences.
So, what is malt? Malt is the result of (surprise!) a process called malting, which the grain undergoes to prepare it for brewing. In simple terms the grain is steeped in water so it begins to break down the complex sugars stored within to a form we can use in brewing; it is then dried to stop it from using the sugars itself to grow, and heated in a kiln to stabilise it for storage prior to brewing. The first two steps will typically be carried out in the same way regardless of the malt being produced – it’s the final kilning step that will define the end result.
The kilning process can vary in both speed and temperature. Gently heating to a relatively low temperature (for a kiln!) will result in pale malt, which is good for the majority of the grain in most beers. Going to higher temperatures at greater speeds will result in darker colours and the flavours that come along with that – bread crust, for example. The process can be further complicated: skipping the drying step and putting the grain into the kiln wet will cause caramelisation and sweeter caramel/toffee flavours, while using a roasting drum post-kiln will result in even darker malt with intense flavours of chocolate and coffee.
It is the latter of these that are used to brew stouts and porters. Due to their intensity, only a small amount is required – roasted malts make up less than 10% of the total grain used in 3 Kings! This is still enough however to impart the necessary flavour and colour; in fact, it’s important not to add too much, or the resulting beer can be overly ashy or burnt tasting. Hopefully you’ll agree I got the balance right!
Thanks very much for reading the blog this year! I hope you’ve enjoyed them – it’s been a fun new challenge for me writing them – and I’ll be back in January with an overview of what the seasonal beers might look like next year. In the meantime (it feels too early to be saying this, but oh well) have a great Christmas and New Year!
