OK, so swashbulking may be stretching the description a wee bit far but our new IPA owes so much to a couple of Musketeers – Matt and Tan that is seems wholly appropriate.
Why musketeers? Well that’s a whole other story for another day.
However, we owe a genuine debt of thanks to the guys as a few months back they attended a ball run by our chosen charity It’s On The Ball – and bid with a passion in the auction to help design and brew a new beer.
The result is our new Blonde IPA – also known as Hopping Musketeer.
OK, so it was over to them to help design the beer. The brief and demands were thankfully pretty clear and didn’t involve ostrich feathers or anything linked to French excesses – no, when it comes to beers these particular musketeers seem firmly inspired by Brewdog style hoppiness.
So, we got to work.
First off was the malt – don’t hold your breath there as yes of course we used Maris Otter, but we picked the extra pale variety to give the light golden almost lager like look the guys wanted, adding just a bit of Cara malt to bring a subtle biscuit flavour and a sprinkling of wheat for the white head and lacing down the glass.
Then for a massive hit of American and New Zealand hops.
Ahtanhum and Chinook kick off the bitterness before adding Simcoe with all its passion fruit qualities.
As we near the end of the boil the hops and flavours intensify with Nelson Sauvin bringing a wonderful gooseberry and grapefruit to the beer. Then an abundance of Citra, Cascade and Amarillo introducing flavours and aromas of tropical, fruit, lime, mango and pine.
All in all a total hop buster of a beer!
We know that you will enjoy the beer – and we close again by offering our thanks to Matt and Tan as their generosity got them a fun day out yes, but it also raised much needed funds for Its On the Ball – which will allow the small dedicated team to go out and spread the word about testicular cancer.
Now, in my book that’s worth raising a glass and a sword to – one for all and all for one!
BTW available in pubs w/c 6 November.