As many of you will be aware, we make a great deal of The Porter being our origin-story beer, and for good reason. It was the beer that first got us noticed as homebrewers, the beer that we steadily built our reputation on, and that eventually led to the creation of our flagship, London Black. However, there are a couple of other beers that have been with us for the duration and that have quietly been growing a reputation of their own.
Whilst it was very much The Porter that formed the foundation of our brewery, our formative years as craft beer drinkers were probably largely spent drinking IPAs. We had simply never experienced beer that put hops right at the forefront before, and legendary establishments such as Cask Pub & Kitchen and The Euston Tap quickly became Aladins Cave’s of discovery and excitement. As well as a plethora of American offerings, we were also introduced to the beers of Mikkeller, Evil Twin, ToØl, and of course the growing number of UK breweries who were picking up the mantle such as The Kernel, Thronbridge, and of course, Brewdog.
Drawing inspiration from all of these, the die was cast for what we wanted to achieve with our offering; a clean, light yet expressive malt character, providing a solid base for a precise expression of bold, fruit forward hops, a touch of dankness and a firm but balanced bitterness. (The level of bitterness in a lot of beers was much debated. After all, we grew up right in the midst of the IBU arms race, so it was easy to get carried away!)
Much like The Porter, the foundational recipe of this beer has remained largely unchanged, especially when it comes to the malt base. A lot of the American IPAs that we were drinking at the time all presented with oxidative signs of aging, specifically resulting from the ubiquitous use of Crystal Malt. When a beer with Crystal Malt ages, the toffee, almost candy like sweetness notes from the malt tend to become more pronounced, and quickly overpower any bright, fruit character that the fast-fading hops may have once displayed. Add to this the typical cooked shreddies and damp cardboard aromas associated with oxidation, and you end up with a bit of a sticky malty mess. To help guard against this, we decided to omit Crystal Malt, instead opting for more gently kilned Munich Malt. The malt gave us a bit of the colour and malt-sweetness that were typical of the style, but without putting the beer on a fast track to crystal-death.
The biggest evolution of the beer has probably been the hop choice. We originally played around with anything we could get our hands on, gravitating towards bolder hops such as Summit, Centennial and Nelson Sauvin, rather than the softer fruit forward hops such as Citra. Summit soon became a regular choice as we iterated. Though on its own it can become a bit oniony, it can provide fantastic base aromas of pithy citrus fruits, as well as contributing a touch of dankness. It also contributes plenty of bitterness, and it's fairly robust when it comes to retaining its characteristics in the beer.
What finally cemented the IPA into its current form was the discovery of Enigma. I distinctly remember being struck by the over-ripe mango and melon aromas that the hop contributed to the beer. This sat really nicely with the bold, pithy citrus notes that the Summit and Ekuanot (then Equinox) were bringing.
With the arrival and subsequent mass adoption of New England style IPAs onto the scene, West Coast inspired beers somewhat fell out of favour. For one reason or another, we largely resisted the opaque allure of these new beers. Whilst there were of course some fantastic examples of the style that we thoroughly enjoyed, more often than not they came across as at best indistinguishable and bland, and at worst claggy, powdery and cloyingly sweet. The style was a far cry from the IPAs that inspired us, and as such, we stuck to our guns, and stuck with The IPA.
It's probably fair to say we have seen a bit of a balancing of the books when it comes to the West Coast/East Coast debate, and space has been found in the market for both styles to exist side by side. As such, we have seen the demand for our IPA steadily grow and it continues to justify itself as a solid part of our core offering. It is a beer that works well across all formats, and is perhaps most decorated as a cask beer having picked up a number of prestigious CAMRA awards, including Champion Beer of London.
