Ale set for a World Cup launch…
Obviously, we wanted to support the England team at the World Cup and allow fans of the team and indeed of Moon Gazer to raise a glass during this year’s tournament.
Behind the scenes Mr Moon Gazer has been looking at adding Skipper to the full-time team – having made a fleeting cameo appearance a couple of years ago – its early promise suffered a pandemic knock back!
That got us thinking – with such an obvious name – the World Cup would be the perfect opportunity to bring back this fine ale – having worked on its game, improved on its strength and added – or in other words we’ve tweaked the hops and malts a bit to make it a real champion ale.
So, the story of Skipper our light amber Norfolk Pale Ale weighing in at a robust but approachable 4.4% abv.
We wanted Skipper to have a nice pale ale feel to it, plenty of hoppiness and flavour but to be a soft easy drinking ale as well – a pale ale meets a session IPA you could say.
We also wanted the beer to have quite a complex mouthfeel and malt profile, so joining Maris Otter in the mash tun was a healthy dose of torrefied wheat, brown malt, crystal malt and a sprinkling of oats.
As for the hops, a combination of American and British hops are used to give the beer a floral and citrus flavour and aroma.
Starting with the American hops we turned to two modern day classics; Idaho 7 and Cascade – with plenty of citrus and floral notes from this pairing.
Backing up the US duo is a hop called Admiral – a British hop we are increasingly fond of due to the smooth orange character it can bring to a beer and also Ernest a citrusy UK hop so very popular in our Ostara spring ale.
Pop them altogether and you get a good clean, fruity flavour and one with subtle flavours and balance, but certainly and easy drinking year-round ale, and hopefully one that can help you cheer on the England team.
Enjoy.