Tag: IPA

Glass of Copper Sunshine

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It is a beautiful day in mid March. The blue sky is dappled with whispy, white clouds and I can feel the warmth of the early spring sunshine on my face. A gentle breeze rustles the early blossom in the trees and there is a smell of freshly cut grass in the air. It is officially pub garden weather and so I find myself sat outside the Black Bear in Wool, Dorset, with a thirst quenching pint of cask ale, Butcombe’s Stateside IPA to be more precise.

This pint feels like a reward following a very steep climb from Lulworth Cove to Durdle Door and back again along the Coastal Path. Admittedly I am not as fit as the last time I did this walk about 5 years ago, but the views are worth it and it definitely made me work up a thirst for a beer. I walk across the pub garden at the Black Bear, pint in hand, and let out a slight groan as I ease my aching body onto a picnic bench. I raise the glass of cool copper coloured ale to my lips for the first taste which quickly leads onto the second and third. I begin to feel the sweet, malty rich liquid seep through my body, easing my aches and strains.

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The Black Bear is your typical traditional village pub with a modest selection of traditional ales, macro beers and ciders as well as spirits. It’s the type of place where everyone knows each other but new faces are welcomed with open arms. Whilst the beer options don’t exactly set the world alight they are kept in the most impeccable condition. Brilliantly bright beers with a stable fluffy head and as I drain my pint the visible traces of white lacing cling to the edges of the glass, indicating again the quality of the beer’s condition. Not only is the beer served at the perfect temperature for cask ale but it is also befitting for the time of the year. I am usually a huge advocate for quaffing lager as soon as the sun comes out but the fresh Spring breeze leaves a chill in the air reminding me that it is still only March. In that moment, with the early season sun shining down on the pub garden, a cool pint of cask ale really hits the spot. 

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I tried to convince my partner Josh into staying a little longer at the Black Bear that day but as the designated driver he was getting a bit twitchy to leave. It wouldn’t be fair to make him watch me drink more beer and so begrudgingly we leave. Hopefully this was the first of many sunny pub garden days to come!

SoBeer Year 2021: August with Gravity Well Brewing

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Railway arches have become quite synonymous with breweries and tap rooms over the last 10 years or so. They seem like the perfect venue, they are spacious, with high ceilings to accommodate brewing equipment. They quite often have some outside space and the are close to train stations or other modes of public transport. I often find myself looking at empty railway arches and begin to start building my dream brewery and tap room in my head. I’ve already imagined the design of the layout, complete with a mezzanine floor for seating, all in a split of a second. This will probably forever remain a fantasy project for me but for many others, like this month’s featured brewery Gravity Well Brewing, it becomes a reality. 

Ben Duck, founder for Gravity Well Brewing, started out by home brewing for a hobby whilst working as a lawyer for an investment bank and at first never had the intention of setting up his own commercial brewery. After spending a year practicing and perfecting his recipes in his London flat he looked at moving into a commercial premises to begin working on a larger scale. He too had seen the popularity and potential of railway arches for start up breweries and found the perfect one in Leyton, East London. Here Gravity Well was born, focusing on hazy New England styles and IPAs with big hop flavours. The modest but delicious core range consists of Cosmic Dust 3.8% Session IPA, Termination Shock 5.3 Pale Ale and Galaxies Apart 6% New England IPA but the brewery also enjoy experimenting with different styles. Recently, with the help of their reverse osmosis filter to purify their water source, they have played around with styles such as sours, goses and stouts. 

I absolutely love NEIPAs so I was looking forward to my delivery from Gravity Well Brewing who also share my adoration of this style. I was also excited to try their range of sour beers, another style that I am particularly fond of. Here are some of my highlights from my box this month:

Planetary Alignment Fruited Gose 4.6% 

As soon as I was pouring this beer into my glass I was hit with the smell of tropical fruits and the vivid yellow colour was reminiscent of juice. The scents on the nose were echoed by the flavours of mango and passionfruit that burst in my mouth. The juice-like mouthfeel that coated my tongue was followed by the prickle of carbonation and tart sourness, balancing out the fruity sweetness. I was worried that with such strong fruit flavours that the subtlety of the added salt for this style would be lost but I was pleasantly surprised to find that touch of salinity on the finish. This was both a very mouthwatering beer as well as a great thirst quencher. I think I may have to crown it as one of my favourites from the range.

Cosmic Dust Session IPA 3.8%

I can’t write about Gravity Well without mentioning one of their core beers. Don’t be fooled by this beer’s modest ABV as it is delightfully flavourful and had a much thicker mouthfeel then I was expecting. The bold piney, hoppy flavours followed up with tropical papaya fruit makes this the perfect session beer. In the blink of an eye I had finished my can of Cosmic Dust which goes to show what an easy drinker this it was. Definitely a great beer to always keep to hand in the fridge.

Pale Blue Dot Imperial Stout 11.5%

This is Gravity Well’s first stout and it was absolutely delicious! Really fruity on the nose which was mirrored in the taste as blueberry is the dominant flavour. The cacao flavours follow giving this beer both a rich chocolate finish as well as some complimenting fruity notes that I often detect when I am eating very dark chocolate. I find that sometimes blueberries are quite tart but with the fruitiness of the cacao this is smoothed out before you get the boozy warmth that you associate with Impy Stouts. This is a lovely beer to finish with at the end of an evening.

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Not content with having just one archway, Ben went on to open his brewery tap room a couple of arches down from the brewery, right next to Leyton Midland Road overground station. The location was perfect, close to the brewery and potential customers could see the taproom from the platform of the station, great for catching those thirsty commuters!

Although I might not ever have an opportunity to have my own place to run a bar, I hope to make the trip to Gravity Well’s tap room to drink more of their beers fresh as well as take a few ideas for my own dream railway arch.

Small Beers – Big Flavours

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“Why don’t more places sell low ABV beers like this?” I asked as I took my first sip of Marble Brewery’s Petite Small IPA.

Fireplace at Marble Arch

After arriving in Manchester a day earlier than expected for the Cloudwater Friends & Family & Beer festival my partner and I used this a good opportunity to try some bars and pubs we had not been to before in the city. We decided to make the trip to Marble Arch, which is somewhere we had always wanted to visit, so we braved the weather and it did not disappoint. The interior of the Grade II listed building is breathtaking with a beautifully tiled floor that leads you towards the bar. The cosy fireplace in the middle of the room was very welcoming and after the walk in the rain I made myself comfortable in a vintage armchair whilst my partner went to the bar. During the course of the day we had both had quite a few beers so I really felt like I needed to slow down a little. It was then I spotted the Petite Small IPA and at 2.8% a pint of this was perfect for what I wanted. As I took my first sip I was surprised that this small beer packs a big punch. With such a low ABV I expected the mouthfeel to be a little thin but I was blown away by how hoppy and juicy my pint tasted. “Why don’t more places sell low ABV beers like this?” I asked my partner. It was then he pointed out to me that my Petite IPA was actually 20p more per pint then his Marble Pint.

Marble’s Petite IPA

My partner, who works in the industry, explained to me that the reason why we don’t see more beers like the Petite IPA could be attributed to the average consumers’ perceived value. When given the choice of a 3.9% beer or a 2.8% priced at 20p more per pint then the average consumer is likely to choose the higher ABV as they may feel this is better value for money. To be honest this isn’t something I have thought about before and it made sense, why would I spend more for beer that has lower alcohol content? My answer was at that particular moment I wanted to slow down after my afternoon of drinking and have something light and refreshing. I was then pleasantly surprised to discover that my pint tasted amazing for a small beer. I then began to think that to achieve a great tasting beer like this with a lower ABV then perhaps more hops have been added into the brew. With traditional recipes hops were added to help preserve beer however in modern brewing techniques they have taken more of a leading role to make up for lack of body as well as produce really interesting flavours. Many of the newer hops can be difficult to get hold of and are often more expensive.

Hops are not the only thing that can be added to a brew to help enhance the flavour and body of a beer. Adjuncts such as fruits or spices can add big flavour but these can also be expensive ingredients. Breweries are also using adjuncts to improve the mouthfeel of a beer and can do this quite cheaply by using grains such as oats or wheat. In January I decided to try a few low alcohol beers, not for any particular reason other then to see what they would be like and I bought the Dry January box from BeerBods. As I was making my way through the box I was amazed at how the beers had a really good mouthfeel and tasted great considering they were only 0.5% ABV. I noticed that these breweries were using more hops or adjuncts to make up for the lack of body and flavour commonly associated with low alcohol beers much like Marble’s Petite IPA.

Mosaic floor at Marble Arch

I would really like to see more small beers like Marble’s Petite IPA in bars and pubs as there is a market for it but I feel that at the moment these are underrated. There is a bit of a stigma attached to people who choose a lower ABV option which is something I have been confronted with before. I believe that to change the perceptions of the average consumer more eduction on low alcohol beers is needed. I think that bar staff should play a large role in this by encouraging people to try samples and discuss that big flavour doesn’t also have to mean a high ABV.