The 4% ABV beer – an English Pale Ale or EPA – was unveiled at the headquarters of River Cottage near Axminster on the Devon-Dorset border.
As well as three canteens and delis in Axminster, Bristol and Plymouth, the River Cottage headquarters, based on a 60-acre farm, has its own restaurant and cookery school. The beer will be used not only at the dining table but also in bread, sausages and even Norfolk-grown polenta used in the kitchens. It will also be a key element of beer and food events at the farm.
Steve Skinner, founder and self-styled “chief taster” at his brewery in Truro, said three beers were brewed in a 50-litre pilot plant, using different hop varieties until both his brewing team and River Cottage staff were satisfied with one version.
It’s brewed with Propino and Quench spring barleys grown in Cornwall and three hops: Admiral, Cascade and Northdown. Samples of Cascade, with its renowned pungent citrus aroma and palate, have been brought over from Washington State in the U.S. and grown by Mark Andrews at Townsend Farm in Herefordshire.
Complex flavours
At the launch of the beer on 3 December Hugh Furnley-Whittingstall said he was not only pleased with the complex flavours of EPA but was also delighted that all-English ingredients were used, English hops in particular. He was keen that the English hop industry should survive at a time when many brewers were importing hops from abroad.
Steve Skinner said EPA has been moved to the main brewery in Truro and he may add a dark beer for River Cottage. The barleys for the beer are grown by Matthew and Paul Dale at Restronguet Barton Farm. The yeast culture used in the brewery originated at the former Stones Brewery in Sheffield, famous for its exceptionally pale best bitter.
A 50/50 blend of Admiral and Cascade are used during the copper boil in the brewery, with Northdown added for bitterness towards the end of the boil. Samples of the hops at the launch revealed that English Cascades have a spicy, fresh tobacco and citrus fruit aroma, while Admiral has a pronounced orange note. Northdowns are piny, cedary and intensely resinous.
Tasting notes
EPA has a pale bronze colour with a big orange fruit note on the nose along with peppery and piny hops and biscuit malt. Hop resins build in the mouth with tart fruit, followed by a dry, quenching finish with a fine balance of biscuit malt, tart fruit and bitter and resinous hops.
The bottled version is sterile filtered but not pasteurised. The cask version will be available to free trade pubs: Skinner’s delivers as far afield as Manchester, Cambridgeshire and Leicestershire. A case of beer can be ordered online from www.rivercottage.net for £31.80. For information about the draught version, contact Skinner’s Brewery: www.skinnersbrewery.com.