East India Pale Ale

East India Pale Ale based on a Fuller’s recipe from 1897. While London was the point of origin of the East India Pale Ale, by this time it was no longer the centre of the production of pale beers bound for India (this had moved to Burton). We chose a London recipe, as that is who we are, and it appeals to us to try to connect once again with London’s brewing history, this time to situate IPAs once again within the cities brewing lineage. The questions raised by the recipe were answered first of all with Golden Promise barley, and Challenger and Goldings hops. Golden Promise is one of the few surviving heritage English malting barley varieties, though it dates from the middle of the last century rather than from the one before. Challenger and Goldings represent the British hop tradition of hedgerow, spice, grass, tea, and it is very likely that hops similar to Goldings would have been used in beers like this at the time of the recipe. The colour is burnished gold. Aroma is an enticing blend of marmalade, toffee, spice and gunpowder/flint. The flavour starts clean but quickly moves into a marmalade warmth, more of an orange honey character than the way the malt presents in our house IPAs. This beer then has a dry finish, tea like, the fruit giving way slowly to something a touch herbal, a touch bitter. The bottle and keg version give sparkle and lightness, an effervescence that accentuates the refreshing character that these beers needed to provide at their destination. The cask is more rounded, gentle and generous / 6% / 500ml