Marston's launches single-hop cask ales

The plan is to brew a different beer for every month of 2012 using a single hop variety each time.

Ian Ward, Marston’s category manager, said that hops were the ‘herbs and spices’ of beer and that each hop has its own special fragrance and flavour.

“Most beers use a mixture of hops, so by producing an ale from a single hop, we are allowing drinks and trade customers to understand what makes flavour and how it works,” said Ward.

Ward added that hops have been sourced from around the world from ‘passionate growers’ and that Marston’s will be providing consumers with plenty of information about the provenance and history of each hop variety, some of which are completely new to the UK brewing scene.

Wai-iti and Kohatu hops are from New Zealand and consumers can look forward to Galaxy hops from Australia, Marynka from Poland, Strisselspalt from France and Citra from the USA.

Marston’s plans to use the same recipe for each hop variety with only the hop changing. Assistant head brewer Simon Yates said that this method would allow the unique tastes and qualities of each hop to shine through.

“It will be a very different, but intriguing taste experience that will naturally appeal to people passionate about taste and ingredients,” said Yates.

Earlier this year, Marston’s Cask Report highlighted the need to create more of talking point around cask ale to boost the category’s current upward trend.

Mark Carter, senior drinks category manager at Marston’s Inns & Taverns said that the new range will meet consumer demand for ‘new, authentic and different experiences.

“We have seen this in food and wine and can now satisfy our consumers when it comes to cask ales,” Carter explained.

The new beers will be available on a first come, first served basis. They will be brewed in a limited run because of the small yields of some of the more experimental hops being used, all of which have been sourced through hop merchant Charles Faram and selected by Richard Westwood, Marston’s production director.

Assistant head brewer Yates will be blogging about the new brews on the Marston’s website and each product will be supported by in-pub point-of-sale, pump clips, posters and table talkers.