Friday 30 April 2010

I love it when a plan comes together

I wrote a little about GADDS' Thoroughly Modern Mild a couple of weeks ago, after brewing it. The basic challenge we faced was to brew a mild ale (for it *is* Mild Month) that would sell very well. We've tried the traditional dark, sweet and weak route over the years but, despite a core of enlightened followers, it simply lacks a wide enough appeal to move quickly; beer that hangs around in a pub for a few days, especially beer fortified with little hop goodness, starts to taste poor pretty quickly.
So we hatched a plan to modernise the style, drag it into the 21st century, give it a right kick in the pants. A wide variety of tasty malts were employed alongside a more modern American grown hop variety, used only for flavour. We brewed it pretty strong, strong enough that two pints satisfies. And we didn't want it to be overly fruity, since we had no bitterness to balance that, so we fermented the ale under 1.5 bars of pressure. The beer was produced pretty quickly, to retain freshness and vitality.

Pomegranate, the designer, has a thing about irony, and duck tails.

Steve brought a cellar sample up to the office this morning and he bore a grin that said only one thing - we'd f^^&&&g nailed it. And he's right, it's a damn tasty brew and I can't wait to nip out for lasties, one night next week, and get a pint in some East Kent hostelry of (ill) repute.

Curses! That jpeg above is from the draft version; the real one says 'deep, golden mild' which is both far more accurate and grammatically fun.

2 comments:

Funkey Farmer said...

Eddie and co. I was lucky enough to sample some of the mild on Saturday and collected a few pints for later consumption. The problem is I didn't get enough !

WHAT a brew - this is blimmin lovely - I sincerely hope this gets brewed again and soon.

Gadds Beers Hop said...

Mrs Farmer (or is it Mr?),

Glad you like it - I'm enjoying a glass or two myself this evening - it's very mild indeed.

There's plenty of it so supply shouldn't be an issue...