Ever since filling every other nook and cranny in the brewery with much bigger tanks, the Holgate Brewhouse team has been using the last remaining baby, Tank 9, as the place for trial and experimental brews. And, as an early Christmas present to his brewers, owner Paul invited the four of them to create whatever they wanted inside it as a break from brewing, mostly, Holgate's core range.
Rather than go nuts and concoct a series of big, crazy beers they kept things pretty restrained. First up was Crafty's Resident Beer Scholar Chris Brady who, we're told, "got all misty-eyed" and brewed an English IPA to remind him of home (well, what was home up til about two decades ago). Said beer is called Tyger Tyger, which references William Blake's 1794 poem, The Tyger – a meditation on the strength and ferocity of the Indian tiger (told you he was a scholar).
Chris tells us the beer is "inspired by the original IPAs that kept upper lips stiff in the days of the British Raj. A burnished copper ale, this IPA is British through and through. English pale and crystal malts lend biscuity malt flavours and hop character is typically English – think floral and earthy with bright notes of citrusy orange marmalade. The finish is dry with a firm, clean bitterness. The perfect drop to steel the nerves in the tiger-infested jungles of old India."
The other two (a Belgian IPA and American Brown) will follow shortly afterwards, with all three being tapped together for an event at Beer DeLuxe Hawthorn on November 29; details to follow in the Events Diary.
Published November 18, 2015 2015-11-18 00:00:00