The Learning Curve
News
Gipsy Hill
10 March 2016The learning curve in brewing can be steep
With our expansion we are so keen to play around with techniques, styles and strengths. You want to push yourself, evolve your processes and hopefully make a better product for it. You learn and adapt from both the positives and the negatives.
The first in our experimental series was ‘Tears of Ra’ – a hugely hopped honey and oatmeal IPA. It’s our second venture away from medium strength. The addition of honey as a little mouthy sweetness, balanced against the oaty body.
The kegs have come out beautifully. Clear, golden, subtle aroma of honey and big hoppy taste. What more do you expect from a profile including, Nelson Sauvin, Azacca, Equinox and Amarillo. We’ve sold almost all the kegs in the first week of launching.
The bottles are another story. We think during the bottling we have disturbed the hop bed in the tank, throwing hop matter up into the brew. The first few cases came out perfectly, meaning the rest slipped under the radar and were packaged. Once we noticed hop matter in the bottles, we stopped all sales externally. It’s a level of inconsistency that we’re not on board with. Most of us find the flavour of the beer most important, followed by the look. We’ve sat down and talked through our processes to make sure we don’t get floaters again.
We’ve decided that Tears of Ra bottles will only be available at the Tap Room. If you don’t mind a little hop floating in your beer then make sure to pop in and give it a go. Why not come to our Hop Party-cle event?
Here’s to clear beer going forward!