Adnams has challenged members of its brewing and quality teams to come up with potential recipes for its next seasonal brew. And Adnams fans will get the chance to vote for a winner.
This is the second such vote in Adnams 150th anniversary year. Chris, Dan, Dawn, and Sam need you to get behind them if they are to see their brew come to life.
“As well as the honour of having their beer on the bar and on the shelves in our anniversary year, they will forever have bragging rights over their colleagues,” said an Adnams spokesperson. “There’s a lot at stake.”
The competitors
Chris’s Around The Wold dark mild (3.4% ABV)
Malts: brown and chocolate. Hops: Pilgrim, First Gold.
Chris says: “Adnams house yeast can be a challenge to manage. However, we all forgive it because of how versatile it is. Personally, I love what it brings to our darker beers, such as the historic brews of Old Ale and Tally Ho, as well as the more modern Blackshore Stout. We don’t currently have a mild in our range and there’s refreshed interest in the style, so with a nod to our predecessors and some modern and classic English hops, I’m keen to brew one.”
Dawn’s Black Mill oatmeal stout (4.8% ABV)
Malts: pale ale, crystal, chocolate, oats. Hops: First Gold, Goldings.
Dawn says: “I love a good stout, and I love it on cask. I know many people agree! A change from the trend for lighter lager styles, hoppy pale ales, and the more bitter IPAs, stouts offer the malts a chance to shine through. With the lighter carbonation you get from cask conditioning, a pint of stout is easy drinking, but at the same time full of flavour and satisfaction.”
Sam’s Sea Fog hazy coastal IPA (4.5% ABV)
Malts: extra pale ale, Vienna, Munich, aromatic, golden naked oats, wheat. Hops: Pilgrim, Chinook UK, Ernest, Azacca
“I would like to brew a coastal IPA. Looking back 150 years, most of the beers available were stouts, bitters, porters, and the like. So, I’d like to look forward, where the real fun begins. I’d like to source hops from a local hop farmer and would be aiming for aromas and flavours of citrus and tropical fruit, a hint of spice, and a medium bitterness. This will be balanced by the multiple varieties of East Anglian malts. I would look to use a mixed yeast culture to get the best out of it, and that burst of flavour and aromas. The beer will be unfiltered to help retain those desired flavours, just like our New England IPA. Who doesn’t love a beer that’s unfiltered? There will also be whole hops added to the cask to help boost its secondary fermentation and achieve the desired fruity, and tropical result. Enjoy.”
Dan’s Amara English IPA (4.9% ABV)
Malts: pale ale, malted rye. Hops: Harlequin, Mystic
“What’s not to like about a modern English IPA showcasing the veritable smorgasbord of hops available to us? Having been involved in selecting new English hop varieties with our hop merchants, Charles Faram, I have been inspired to use them. I want to use Jonathan Adnams’ locally-grown Rye to balance out the hop bill and give that ‘zing’. I would like to use new varieties such as Harlequin and Mystic. It would then be generously dry-hopped in cask to give a nod to our cask bitter and to give it that little bit extra.”
