Sunday 28 November 2010

Le Voyageur


Canadian brewer Iain Shuell is leaving for his homeland next week after a 7 year spell here in Blighty. To me he has been, variously: a colleague, an employee and a close friend for around 15 years now, here and abroad. And I'm going to miss him, so we're brewing a farewell beer together.

On Iain's insistence we're keeping the styling English on a brown ale, but with a distinctly Canadian twist: maple syrup. So it's all about crystal malt for sweetness, with roasted barley and chocolate malt to lend some toffee notes and colour, oats to smooth it out and a twist of wheat for the head. Kent grown fuggles in the boil for a very light bitterness and, late on, for an earthy touch. We ferment with a gentle ale yeast, adding a flagon of maple syrup early on, and another just before casking. Mature for 3 weeks and send it out for New Year.

Oh, and there will be tears in there too.

The story of the voyageurs is pretty cool and very Canadian - look.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck Iain and thanks for your contribution to the east kent brew. It's been tasteful !

BBQ Recipes said...

Great reaad thankyou