Wild Card Brewery has collaborated with East London artist Anna Borup to create a quartet of beer ‘monsters’, named Keith, Barbara, Alex, and Lesley.
In her work, Anna uses a bold colour palette, with a focus on surreal compositions which feature animals and nature. The Wild Card brewers take up the story of the beers…
Keith
Meet Keith, decorating our latest stout, rated number 1 for athletics in the world. His lithe and agile figure has been a source of envy for aspiring gymnasts all over. To brew this espresso stout, we began with myriad malts for complexity, including pale, Munich, light crystal, chocolate, beech-smoked, and black malts. Into the boil went nine kg of freshly ground coffee from local roastery Wood Street. We selected their Seasonal Espresso coffee, a Brazilian blend which delivers a roasty aroma, mellow nuttiness, and soft mouthfeel. We also added Phoenix and Centennial hops, as well as another 6kg after fermentation to make the beer punchy and flavourful.
Lesley
Lesley enjoys long walks on the beach and cooking Ottolenghi recipes. Lesley is our NEIPA, a juicy number with pale malt and oats in the grain bill for a pillowy mouthfeel, haze, and creaminess. We hopped on the hot side generously, adding new British hop Phoenix. We love this hop for its light bitterness and bold tropical notes. In the dry hop, we added plenty of Cryo-Pop and Cryo-Mosaic for stonefruit and citrus-forward aromas.
Barbara
Our winged Barbara is a sessionable India Pale Ale. Barbara, despite her horns and intimidating wings, is highly sought for her hugs by baby monsters the world over. We crafted this IPA with a large amount of lager and oat malts in the mash, for a quaffable body and silky mouthfeel. Light and easy-drinking, the Barbara IPA is ultra-refreshing with just a hint of dankness and bitter hit from Mosaic and Simcoe dry hop.
Alex
Despite a tiny stature and rather enormous eyes, Alex remains optimistic about finding love. This youthful monster decorates our delicious pale ale. At 4.8% ABV, it’s as luscious and flavoursome as our hoppier beers. To give this beer its amazing sweet finish and wonderfully zesty aroma, we created a whirlpool in the kettle, and then added Cryo-Citra and fermented it with specially selected yeast. We dry-hopped with Mosaic and Cascade, a classic hop pairing to imbue the beer with floral and tropical shades.
