As it continues to celebrate its ninth anniversary, Orbit Beers has added two new barrel-aged specials to its Diggers Series range.
The full Digger Series line-up
Cuvée de Cologne 2023 (5.9% ABV) is blend of complex, oak barrel-aged Nico Köln lager. Every year, Orbit brewers barrel-age a small portion of Nico in a solera system, leaving it to ferment with specially-selected strains of Brettanomyces.
When they fill the barrels with freshly fermented Nico, they do so on top of a small portion of barrel-aged Nico, left behind from the previous year’s Cuvée de Cologne. This annual process allows the Cuvée de Cologne to change and develop year on year, while retaining links to Nico — the base beer — and previous releases of Cuvée.
The 2023 blend was aged in oak barrels for two years with a blend of Brettanomyces Lambicus and Brux. With a slightly more funky and complex flavour than the 2022 blend, you can still expect aromas of toasted hay, oaky vanilla, and a subtle touch of lemon sherbet. There are smooth, bready-malt flavours, with restrained bitterness, delicate acidity, and a champagne-like dry finish.
Philly Blend (6.4% ABV) is a combination of barrel-aged Nico and a barrel-aged Philly Lemon Sour, matured in oak barrels with Brettanomyces, Brux, Clausennii.
It’s a warm, golden-orange colour, with a thin white head and bright clarity. Aromas of Amalfi lemons come through, along with toasted straw, vanilla oak, and an earthy funkiness from the two-year-long Brett fermentation. The flavour offers a sharp citrus sourness with a rounded body and a long, dry finish.
