August - IPA

August is here and it's IPA time! With the demand being so high last year a few changes to the recipe have had to be made in order to allow double the volume to be brewed. Firstly our mash tun isn't big enough to cram the necessary amount of malt in for 3000L of a 6.5% beer to be brewed in one go so the same sort of syrup that was used to extend the brewlength of the Grand Cru back in April was employed again. This helps to increase the sugar content of the unfermented wort, however you don't want to be greedy as too much can have a negative impact on the final product.

The second alteration to the original recipe is that it was now going into a cylindroconical fermenter with a very small top hatch and so the use of whole hops was not going to be a possibility and so instead pelletised hops had to be used. This does have its benefits in that they are much less messy when you are cleaning up and there is lot less wastage from the hops soaking up beer.

Finally the hop bill has been cut from 7 varieties down to 5. This years brew includes the following; Amarillo (pine), Bobek (floral), Chinook (grapefruit) and Summit (orange). Hopefully it will be as well received as last time, especially given that we have a small quantity earmarked for the final limited edition bottling run of the year.

Castaway - Oak & Coconut Conditioned Strong Ale

July has arrived and the sun has got his hat on. Most breweries will produce a hoppy pale beer for mid summer, not DBC. Instead we've followed suit with our strategy of trying to do something different to everybody else (e.g. not making a mild for May) and brewed a 5.5% burgundy coloured ale. Castaway tastes as close to rum without actually containing possibly the worlds greatest and all too often overlooked spirit as I could get.

Motueka and Amarillo hops during the boil have lent a spicy, earthy and delicate pine aroma whilst plenty of crystal malts have given this beer a sweet treacle backbone. Following fermentation oak conditioning with coconut chips has rounded off the flavour and produced smooth nutty, stewed plum and charred character. This dangerously moreish beer is really something.

On another note we've decided to continue with our one off casks for our brewery tap in Dorchester after the success of our beetroot beer in spring. So for summer we have a firkin of Jurassic dry hopped with the new American variety Mozaic heading over there for next weekend. I enjoyed a sample with some friends from University last week, hopefully the Tom Brown's crowd will approve.