Andy and I brewed again last week. This time we brewed the Bramling Cross hops experiment that I referred to in a previous post. This beer is made purely with English hops called Bramling Cross. We’ve added plenty for bitterness, flavour and aroma, and we’ll be dry-hopping too once fermentation finishes completely.
On the same night we racked and kegged our “special bitter” that I also talked about in that previous post. We were extremely happy with how it tasted – rich and malty but also with a strong English hop flavour. It’s going to be delicious. I had joked that we should call it “Quarry Bank Bitter” (since it was based on Sam Smith’s Museum Ale, ha ha). But we’re trying to avoid too many puns or jokes in our names, so we’ve settled on “Shining Tor” – another Cheshire Peak (just up near the Cat and Fiddle on the way over to Buxton).
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned before, but our friend Andy Bowers (a different Andy) has also started all-grain brewing in the last few months, and recently we’ve been sampling some of his creations. He started with a rather excellent rich and dark oatmeal stout, followed by a sweet and strong porter. He then used our recipe for Knutsford Brown Ale to create his own Mobberley Brown Ale (“Because it’s close to Knutsford”). It wasn’t just close to Knutsford, it was very similar indeed – a fantastic rich, sweet, malty beer that is hugely quaffable. So, the competition is hotting up – we’d better keep on our toes!
Shining Tor. (Photo: Thanks to http://www.walksinthepeakdistrict.co.uk/)
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