Potent brew en route to Parsons Green beer festival
An award winning craft brewer is looking forward to bringing a beer with a powerful punch to a Parsons Green beer festival.
The White Horse will hold The Old Ale Festival from November 22 to November 24, with a line up of 60 different real ales from breweries across the UK.
Amongst the varied contemporary beers from across the country will be Hardknott Brewery’s Granite – a heavyweight 12.7% with taste to match. Out of the beers represented at the festival it would appear Granite is the second strongest only pipped to the post by another beer at 12.9%
Based in Cumbria, the award winning brewery has gained a reputation for producing beers that push the boundaries of flavour and character.
Dave Bailey, who runs Hardknott Brewery with his partner Ann Wedgwood, said: “We are passionate about pushing the boundaries with our beers and trying to make people realise the potential for different flavours, characters and combinations that exist.
“The Old Ale Festival is always a great event that is a wonderful window into the great work that independent and craft brewers do all over the country to keep beer fresh and exciting.
“We are proud that Granite, which is a very special beer to us, will be there too and able to play a part in such a wonderful festival in such a great venue.”
Hardkott uses a time-consuming a “double series mash” technique to make the barley wine, rather than using extra sugar or malt.
The brewery has been making different editions of the beer every year, each with a particular character and flavour.
Mr Bailey said: “By pushing the beer yeast to it’s absolute limits we create a depth of flavour way beyond ordinary beers. There are aromas of dark fruit, liquorice, caramel, spicy cloves and figs. Flavours of currants, molasses, juniper berries and dry sherry. There is a long intense bitter spirit finish. It’s an absolute belter with mature cheese.
“This beer is designed for geological time-scale ageing. We want people to collect the different editions from each year and when they become rare we want them to wish they had bought earlier editions to lay down like a fine wine. Every year is very deliberately different with different hops, malt combinations, and some variations in techniques. This makes every edition unique.”
To find out more about Hardknott’s beers go to www.hardknott.com
