New beer spearheads summer craft range
Hogs Back Brewery is expanding its craft beer range with the launch of East Coast IPA, available in keg and 330ml cans. The new beer will spearhead Hogs Back’s offer for reopening pubs this summer, which also includes its popular Hog IPA, now in cans, and Hogstar lager.
East Coast IPA is a balanced, naturally hazy and unfiltered 5.8% beer. While its intense mouthfeel and hop aroma give it an authentic US craft beer character, like all Hogs Back beers it also stands out from the herd.
Rupert Thompson, owner of Hogs Back Brewery in Tongham, Surrey, said, “The US style of IPA is hugely popular, making East Coast IPA a strong addition to our craft line-up, with a very different taste profile to our Hog IPA.
“As an unfiltered beer, East Coast IPA is packed with flavour and character, but is also an accessible beer that will be enjoyed by craft aficionados and mainstream beer lovers alike.”
He added, “As pubs look to win back customers post-lockdown, a distinctive and memorable range of keg beers from a local brewer will have strong appeal. We’re confident that drinkers in pub gardens across the south-east will be enjoying these great summer beers over the coming months.”
Seven hops
East Coast IPA, created by Hogs Back’s head brewer Miles Chesterman, is brewed with seven hop varieties. Along with Cascade grown in the Hogs Back hop garden, it uses Fuggles, Ekuanot, Calypso, Mosaic, Idaho 7 and Mount Hood. The four malts in the recipe are Pale, Munich, Wheat and Golden Oats.
The result is a perfectly balanced IPA with a smooth creamy backbone from the oats, complemented by tropical notes and the slightly piney finish that characterises a great IPA. Flavours of stone fruits, berries, lemons, and papaya are all in the mix.
New design for craft range
Memorable branding on the East Coast IPA can and font badge features the familiar Hogs Back hog in a graphic which suggests the US flag as well as rolling coastal waves. The same clean, eye-catching design for Hog IPA and Hogstar creates a distinctive identity for the Hogs Back craft portfolio, and encourages consumers to drink across the range.
East Coast IPA is available in keg and cans. For further information: sales@hogsback.co.uk
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Notes to editors
Hogs Back Brewery craft range tasting notes
- Hog IPA
4.5% ABV light, hoppy ale with a blend of floral and fresh citrus notes upfront, well-balanced with a long, dry finish. Hog IPA is brewed with a selection of fine English malts and locally grown Cascade and Fuggles hops, alongside US Centennial.
- Hogstar
4.5% ABV lager brewed with special lager malts and five different hops from the UK – including English Cascade from the Hogs Back hop garden – Europe and USA. A small quantity of natural herb extracts is added before Hogstar is left to mature for over a month. The result is a beer that has all the crisp refreshment of a lager, but with a greater depth of flavour and aromas.
Hogs Back Brewery
- Hogs Back Brewery was founded in 1992 in Tongham, in the heart of the traditional Surrey hop growing area.
- Its flagship brand TEA, or Traditional English Ale, is one of the leading regional ales in the South East. The first beer brewed by Hogs Back in 1992, TEA has won multiple awards including runner-up in CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain in 2000. Distribution of TEA is currently at an all-time high.
- The Hogs Back Brewery range includes a number of award-winning draught, bottled and canned beers, demonstrating its ability to combine brewing expertise and tradition with product innovation to create distinctive, memorable beers.
- Hogs Back’s traditional cloudy cider, Hazy Hog, launched in 2013, won a Bronze medal in the International Cider Challenge in 2019.
- Hogs Back planted a hop garden adjacent to its brewery in 2014, growing three hop varieties: Fuggles – used in its flagship TEA ale; Cascade – used in Hogstar lager; and Farnham White Bine.
- Hogs Back relocated its hop garden in 2019. At 8.5 acres, the new hop garden is nearly three times the size of the previous one and when fully mature will provide 50% of their hop requirements.
- Hogs Back is planning to build a hop kiln and warehouse close to the hop garden, which will allow hops to be dried immediately after picking and packed within 24 hours using state-of-the-art vacuum packing technology to capture the hops’ freshness.
- The hop garden is an essential part of Hogs Back’s commitment to brewing sustainably. With the hops grown just yards from the brewhouse, they are brewing beers with the freshest ingredients – ‘from field to firkin in a furlong’.
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Issued on behalf of:Hogs Back Brewery
Ros Shiel: ros@shielporter.com / 07841 694137