Festiv'Ale season

The sun's out, the temperature is on the increase and the Summer Solstice is imminent - time then for a decent, tasty thirst quencher. Festiv'Ale ticks all the right boxes: a pale, light malty body hides below a hop blanket of blackcurrant, mint, grapefruit and passion fruit. A sharp, crisp aftertaste finishes things off nicely.

Available throughout the summer, in every decent pub and at every decent festival in East Kent.

First up is the Hop Farm, followed quickly by Lounge on the Farm.

Festiv'Ale

In a couple of weeks' time Van, Bob, Debbie and many of their friends are having a bit of a knees up down at the hop farm and they've asked for a cask or two of the good (and local) stuff to help things go with a swing. We'll be taking some Seasider and GADDS' Number 5 Best Bitter but the main offering will be Festiv'Ale, our pale, hoppy, fruity thirst slaker brewed to be enjoyed while dancing on grass in the sunshine. Or moonshine.

Obviously technical support is all part of the deal and, in a rare show of leadership, I've decided to do it myself - well it *is* on a weekend. I'm taking the Coyote and his camper van; he's very excited because blue-grass style Mumford & Sons will be there.

Recipe Formulation Day

Next week we're brewing Festiv'Ale, a pale, fruity little 3.8er for those on a session at this year's Hop Farm Festival up in Paddock Wood. We've brewed it before; we find an excuse to slip it in most years but we don't necessarily use the same recipe every year. Proper beer drinkers think it sacrilegious alter a beer's formulation but the truth is it happens a great deal more than they suspect, to a great many more beers. I can't speak for others but there are a few reasons we change and alter things: a change of raw materials available necessitating a tweak, a change in drinker preference (or a change in drinker), to improve the flavour of a beer or simply to try something a little different. No one has drunk Festiv'Ale since sitting in a field last year and I doubt even those that took notes can recall the exact nuances involved so I feel free, to a certain extent, to revisit the brewsheets, check the malt store, check the hop store and work out a recipe. I call it 'freshening up'.



So, the malt was simply pale Marris Otter and some Caragold (body and mouthfeel) at 11%, the hops were Canterbury grown Cascades for a middling bitterness and juicy flavour with a twist of fruity Nelson Sauvin hops at the end. All fermented with a soft ale yeast to a sweeter-than-usual finish, (which will have balanced that gentle bitterness).

I don't think much needs changing there then. Up the hops, as always, but nothing else.

Well, that was an easier day than I thought it would be - as the Coyote says "some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you" (these Canadians are an odd lot).