After Thornbridge Brewery saved a Burton Union set they have been making sure it is used very regularly. Starting with their flagship brew, Jaipur, to make sure it all worked with their existing brew kit, Thornbridge have now turned their attention to a new beer which will be brewed exclusively on the Union Set.
The beer is called ‘The Union’ and will be a classic British IPA, the Union system of fermenting was widespread across Great Britain by the mid-1800s, when British beer was famous across the world, so they wanted to take this idea and use the finest modern ingredients to create a superb, contemporary beer.
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 a touch of colour and rounded sweetness and 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.
The hops are British-grown Goldings and Northdown, which give some gentle berry flavours and rounded, cedar-like hop aromas to balance the maltiness. The Goldings have been sourced from Hawkins farm in Herefordshire, sixth-generation hop growers who just won the Institute of Brewing and Distilling hop competition with a sample of their Harlequin. The Northdown, fresh from winning the Sandhurst cup at the Kent hop show in 2023, are grown at Gay Dawn Farm in Kent.
Two yeast strains are used, namely a fruity British cask ale strain and California ale yeast, which is fairly neutral in flavour and ensured the correct attenuation. The water here in Bakewell is (thankfully) very soft, but Burton water is famously hard, so to emulate this there is plenty of Gypsum added. Probably not quite enough to get the famous ‘Burton snatch’ (a whiff of sulphur on freshly poured beer), but enough to the required crisp, minerally edge on the finish.
Notes to editor
The beer will be first poured in Thornbridge Brewery bars on July 5th 2024. It will then be available to general trade directly from the brewery, it can be ordered by emailing sales@thornbridge.co.uk
Further information on the Union https://thornbridgebrewery.co.uk/blogs/head-brewers-blog/thornbridge-union
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
For further information and all other enquiries, please contact Simon Webster, CEO and Co-founder of Thornbridge Brewery Simon.Webster@thornbridge.co.uk
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