In search of Number One

Remember the barley wine we made last month? And how we split the gyle to create two distinct beers, one well hopped and the other barrel aged? You do? Then you'll also recall I named it 'Gadds' Number One' - well that was an unfortunate premature designation ("it's never happened before") since I've changed my mind. We're bottling the well hopped version this morning and it's a fairly fulsome taste-bud blowing beer, so way out that it doesn't fit its initial moniker - I think we'll call it 'Oooks'. (Take some time to think about that).

And I've just had a tasting of the barrel aged version with the Beer Merchant - 'awesome' was the considered verdict and who am I to disagree with such a broadly travelled beer expert? We'll be bottling that this coming week too and it ought to be on the shelves by mid-May. Lovely. But an oaky vinous barley wine Gadds' Number One ain't; our style is largely straightforward and since both these beers are heavily complex neither is a true reflection of who we are.

So the hunt for Gadds' Number One continues unabated.

The Bells of St Helen's

Flavour, and I deliberately include that organoleptic duo of olfactory and oral, is a strange and fascinating area of study. Last week I crushed a few handfuls of coriander seeds and hunted down random citizens in search of feedback: 'orange', 'lime' and 'lemon' were the perceived aromas, along with the to be expected 'spice', 'curry' etc etc. But that first citrus family is what I found especially intrigueing - do try it at home, preferably on a saturday night whilst cooking curry. It doesn't work with powdered coriander, only freshly crushed.

So, along with some grated zest of fresh orange (I'm still working my through the residual fruit) I tossed the coriander into the copper and followed this mixture up with some very fruity Perle hops from Hallertau. The morning mash had contained an unusually high proportion of wheat and the hope was that these four flavours would meld in some beneficial way.

Well, the beer is going into cask as I write (thanks Steve) and I've had a sneaky little taste - yup, we have a lovely and refreshing wheat ale redolent of citrus spice and soft vanilla. There is a firm but welcome fruity hoppiness in there too and a mellow maltiness unfettered by bitterness - the whole is a rather balanced and tasty beer, very much reminding me of sunny afternoons sitting outside cafe bars watching the world go by.

From May 1st, everywhere in East Kent.

In praise of alcohol

So the duty on alcohol has gone up in the budget today, as usual. But what is the backstory?

Thanks to our media friends the dangers of alcohol are well documented, and these dangers come with a fiscal price to our society.

The cost of alcohol misuse to the NHS was estimated to be around £2.7 billion back in 2006/7.

There are indirect costs associated too: policing, social care and 'opportunity costs'.

The duty raised in that period was around £8 billion. That is revenue derived at the source of production. There is a whole industry associated with that production and it contributes corporation tax and personnel income tax too. It also supports an allied traders industry making similar contributions.

Then the alcohol is sold on to a retail industry (more corporate tax revenue) which supports a workforce of millions (more income tax) and sells it on to you and I with value added tax.

All in all society is quids in all round thanks to alcohol.

So raise a glass (of beer) to alcohol, its industry and the vast revenue accrued from it - we'd be pretty stuck without it.

Spring Stock

Featured breweries include:

Brasserie de la Senne
De Ranke Brouwerij
Mikkeler

and, of course, De Molen Brouwerij.

On the Road

.........at the Planet Thanet Easter Beer Festival.

We thought we'd take our fine wares over to the Winter Gardens in Margate in order to find a larger congregation than we usually enjoy. We have just taken store of a volumous quantity of our favourite brews from over there, along with some new ones from there, there and there. Septic Steve is in the chair so get along and demand a taster.

Layering

Sometimes it's good to layer flavours. Last month I brewed our barley wine and got some nice malt, a little toffee (roast barley and chocolate malt make toffee), some lovely red berry notes from the rye and a deep bitterness from our hops.

Then I stored it on bed of 'Bramling Cross' hops to extract some light, fresh green notes for contrast.

Today we split the brew: half into french oak casks from the splendid chaps at Chapel Down Vineyard (big thank you to Frazer and Owen - there'll be a case for you when it's done) and half into another tank liberally dosed with a new variety of hop called NZ Nelson Sauvin. The former aliquot ought to gain vinuous undertones with perhaps a little oak and tannin, the latter, massive fruit and grapes if the early taste of these hops is anything to go by.

So at the moment we have two beers maturing, ready for bottling 'TBC', according to taste.

Layering is very much in this season.

The first few hours....(after the 'lag')

FV 3 - 08.00hrs 3rd April, 2009

As fermentation begins, bubbles of carbon dioxide rise to the surface accompanied, a few hours later, by fresh yeast cells, hitching a ride. The resulting plume is fungal in form and is superseded a few hours later by a more creamy texture. Whilst I hope my Nokia 6500 classic can do justice to this wonderful example of natural mathematics, technology has yet to provide a transducer capable of communicating aroma. It's all lemon, grass, mint and spice (clove) this morning.

Brewer's privilege. And lets face it, endless free ale apart, we get very few of those.