Driftwood Spars Brewery, in St Agnes, Cornwall, is celebrating the successful launch of Sea Shanty, its first new core cask beer in five years.
The 4% ABV pale ale is refreshingly light with subtle tropical, fuity notes. It’s vegan friendly and, like all other beers in brewery’s range, is tested gluten free.
“Sea Shanty is light and supremely drinkable, but with a unique house character,” said head brewer Mike Mason. “We used a special signature yeast, something which is fairly unusual these days.
“The nature of the yeast, and the method of re-using it over several batches, means that it takes on the character of the surrounding environment and imparts that into the beer — in our case the fresh, salty sea air!
“We used some of our favourite English-grown, New World-style hops, and experimented for over a year on our pilot brew kit to get the balance of flavours just right. Sea Shanty is tropical and fresh, but not too ‘in your face,’ fitting nicely into our range as a low ABV pale ale.”
Fans of hand-crafted beers enjoyed a sneak preview at the Cornish Craft Beer Tasting at The Alverton Manor in March, an event which raised more than 2,500 for the Children’s Hospice South West.
Driftwood Spars head brewer, Mike Mason
The official launch took place on St Piran’s Day, when Stunsl’s Sea Shanty Group performed in characteristically rousing fashion at The Driftwood Spars brewpub. Sea Shanty was also put through its paces over the weekend of A Barrel of Laughs, the pub’s inaugural comedy and beer festival earlier this month.
“Sea Shanty enjoyed a rip-roaring reception at the festival, going down a treat with both our regulars and visitors from further afield,” said pub and brewery owner Louise Treseder. It’s a fantastic addition to the range — a real Cornish session ale for all seasons.”
For Louise, the new release is a timely nod to Driftwood Spars’ founding brewer, Pete Martin, who would have been 60 years old this month, but who passed away suddenly in 2020.
Louise said: “Pete loved a beer festival, and a shanty, and would’ve enjoyed many a pint of Sea Shanty, I’m sure. Mike is doing a great job of maintaining his legacy while also looking to the future with contemporary releases like this.
“We’ve an exciting few years ahead here in Trevaunance Cove — our reputation as a bastion of hand-crafted beer appreciation is growing!”
Plans were recently submitted to modestly enlarge the microbrewery, which is across the road from the brewpub, improving production facilities and allowing more tastings and tours to take place.
