Beer writer and SommALEier Melissa Cole has created her ‘ultimate IPA’ with Welsh brewer SA Brain and Co Ltd.
Fruits of our Labours, a 6.5% ABV craft brewery ale, is an West Coast style IPA. Brewed with Citra, Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade and Summit hops, and a blend of passion fruit, mango, peach and pineapple, the result is a ‘fruity little number’ with a huge tropical nose and a spicy, rounded bitter punch.
Melissa said: “It’s a little bit crazy up in my head, but there’s always a foundation in reality. So whilst Fruits of Our Labours might sound mad, all the fruit is actually designed to underpin the tremendous tropical fruit and citrus notes you get from many American hops, like Amarillo, which we used a lot of.
“The ‘fruity little number’ line, which features on the pump clip, is a little tongue-in-cheek humour aimed at my colleagues in the wine industry where the phrase is to them what ‘hoppy and malty’ are to me, a pretty much useless collection of words to describing tastes and flavours!
“I’ve found that a lot of my collaboration beers, because of their slightly wacky ingredients, have appealed to wine drinkers and received rave reviews from at least two respected wine writers and I hope this will be enjoyed by all lovers of fine artisan drinks.”
Fruits of our Labours is part of an India Pale Ale series, which sees beer writers and bloggers develop and brew their ultimate IPA. Guest brewers include Simon Martin, Martyn Cornell, Marverine Cole, and Ben McFarland and Tom Sandham. The IPAs will be independently judged at the end of the year and the winning beer will become part of Brains’ beer festival programme.
The beer will be available in cask in 30 Brains outlets from October 1st. For a full list of stockists visit www.brainscraftbrewery.com. The beer has also been kegged and will be sold in the following outlets
The Red Lion, Leytonstone
The Wells Kitchen, Tunbridge Wells
The Stile Bridge, Marden, Kent
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For more information please contact Laura Overton on 029 2033 4762 or laura.overton@sabrain.com