Having done a brew of its famous Jaipur IPA on its newly-acquired Union Set, Thornbridge has brewed a new beer using the equipment, The Union.
The Union system of fermenting was widespread across Great Britain by the mid-1800s, when British beer was famous across the world. Now Thornbridge has taken this idea and used the finest modern ingredients to create a superb, contemporary beer — an IPA.
The base malt is Maris Otter, from Norfolk, where the sandy soil and maritime climate is perfect for growing this variety. It brings a slight nuttiness and biscuit flavour.
There is a touch of Simpsons’ best Crystal malt to add a touch of colour and rounded sweetness, and lashings of the special ‘Brewers’ Invert No.2’ sugar from Ragus, which adds notes of caramel and toffee while helping to keep the beer’s body in check.
The hops will be British-grown Goldings and Northdown, which give some gentle berry flavours and rounded, cedar-like hop aromas to balance the maltiness.
The Goldings have been sourced from Hawkins Farm, in Herefordshire, sixth-generation hop growers who won the Institute of Brewing and Distilling hop competition with a sample of their Harlequin. The Northdown, fresh from winning the Sandhurst cup at the Kent Hop Show in 2023, is grown at Gay Dawn Farm in Kent.
Two yeast strains have been used, namely a fruity British cask ale strain and California ale yeast, which is fairly neutral in flavour and ensured the correct attenuation. The water in Bakewell is very soft, but Burton water is famously hard, so to emulate this there is plenty of gypsum added. Probably not quite enough to get the famous ‘Burton snatch’ (a whiff of sulphur on freshly poured beer), but enough to the required crisp, minerally edge on the finish.
