Earlier in 2024, Thornbridge Brewery took the decision to save a historic piece of British brewing equipment, namely a part of the Burton Union. They brought this to Bakewell and have been brewing on it since including a batch of their famous IPA, Jaipur, and a collaboration with the renowned Odell Brewing Company from the USA.
The flagship brew created on this kit is called ‘The Union’ and is a classic British IPA, brewed with the British-grown hops Goldings and Northdown which give some gentle berry flavours and rounded, cedar-like hop aromas to balance the maltiness of the brew. The base malt is Maris Otter from Norfolk, where the sandy soil and maritime climate is perfect for growing this variety, it brings a slight nuttiness and biscuit flavour. There is a touch of Simpsons’ best Crystal malt to add colour and rounded sweetness with lashings of the special ‘Brewers’ Invert No.2’ sugar from Ragus, which will add notes of caramel and toffee while helping to keep the beer’s body in check.
It has already proved hugely popular in cask and in August at Peterborough CAMRA Beer Festival it won a Gold Medal in the Strong Ales category followed by a Silver Medal across all beers.
In September this beer will be available in bottles for the first time, launching as part of Thornbridge Beer Club, it will be bottle conditioned and slightly stronger than its cask counterpart. In doing this it adds another fantastic bottle conditioned beer to the Thornbridge range and allows opportunities for more people to experience beers created on the Union system. It will be available throughout the UK and in Thornbridge’s Export markets.
Notes to editor
Thornbridge Brewery is based at Riverside Industrial Estate, Buxton Road, Bakewell, DE45 1GS and has been operating since 2005. The brewery has picked up over 350 domestic and international awards, including over 100 for their flagship IPA, Jaipur
The Union bottles will be launched as part of the Thornbridge Beer Club offering for September. It will then be available to general trade directly from the brewery, they can be ordered by emailing sales@thornbridge.co.uk
Thornbridge now have a dedicated section on their website for The Union with all the latest happenings with the Union System https://thornbridgebrewery.co.uk/pages/union
For further information and all other enquiries, please contact Simon Webster, CEO and Co-founder of Thornbridge Brewery Simon.Webster@thornbridge.co.uk
Third-party news items that are posted on the Guild website’s news section come from press releases received by the Guild. These press releases are posted as they have been received and their publication on the Guild website is intended as an informational service provided to our members and website visitors. As such, the publication of a story from a third-party source is neither an endorsement of the content, nor its sender, by the Guild. For enquiries on any news item, please use the contact details that can be found at the bottom of each post.