New year, new beginnings as the saying goes. For Siren, the start of 2015 sees them coming up on their second birthday. They have quite the party planned on Saturday March 7th which will mark the release of their second anniversary brew - Maiden 2014 - the name indicating the year this batch was brewed before being aged for a year in various different barrels. Anticipation is starting to build and the release even has an artistic teaser trailer, produced by Third Lens Films. I remember writing something similar about Magic Rock a while back but to me it seems odd to think that Siren are still less than two years old. They've certainly established themselves very quickly and have expanded rapidly, turning out batch after batch of their great core lineup alongside some fantastic specials and notable collaborations with big names such as Mikkeller, Hill Farmstead and Prairie Artisinal Ales among others. As they prepare to enter their third year of operation, I'm personally excited to see where things go next for Siren.
As for my own new beginnings, I'm pleased to report that potential premises for Elusive Brewing - my own soon-to-be micro brewery - have been identified (in Farnborough, Hampshire) and I'm currently working with the local council to ensure my plans fall within the current use class before signing the lease. Anyone who has set up a brewery, no matter how large or small, will be able to relate to the length of time it has taken to get things off the ground and while that has been disappointing, that disappointment was more than offset with the success of Lord Nelson - last summer's collaboration with Weird Beard - and in 2015, I hope to build on that to produce brews of the same quality on my own kit. In the mean time, look out for more collaboration brews and also the upcoming release of American Red, the beer that won last year's National Home Brewing Awards competition. That's being brewed this coming Monday and will debut at this year's award ceremony on Saturday 31st January.
While I'm on the subject of collaboration brews, what of the title of this post!? Well that's the name of a beer I collaborated with Siren on recently, which is due to hit the pumps in the next few weeks. This will be the third beer to be released bearing the Elusive Brewing name and it came about in short order as Head Brewer Ryan spotted a gap in their brewing schedule between Christmas and New Year and got in touch to see if I fancied collaborating on something new ("let me think for a second... OH HELL YEAH!").
The recipe was constructed after visiting the brewery - literally about an hour later - to look at the ingredients they had to hand. The aim was to brew something around the 4% ABV mark and we'd be brewing it the very next day, New Year's Eve. Ryan noted they had a lot of Vienna malt in stock and fancied brewing something with a high percentage of the grist made up from that. Vienna malt gives a lovely toasty biscuit-like flavour and aroma when used in high quantities. The hop store was full of various American hops but it was the newly arrived German hops that caught my eye - and nose! After some discussion, we settled on a recipe - a Vienna Pale Ale with all German hops - which are known for being more subtle than their American relatives. The beer has fermented out and is being dry hopped with a lot more of those same hops. The varieties used are 'new breed' rather than traditional and are bursting with lovely fruity aromas. The beer is being racked next week and will be available soon afterwards in cask and a very limited amount of keg. Please contact Siren if you're interested in stocking it, but be quick as there's not much to go round.
So, why the name? Well there's a prize* at stake for the first person to post a comment below with the correct guess as to its origin. The clues are above so get thinking (or googling)!
* This won't be beer, at least not this beer since none is being bottled. Must be over 18. Judge's decision is final!
While I'm on the subject of collaboration brews, what of the title of this post!? Well that's the name of a beer I collaborated with Siren on recently, which is due to hit the pumps in the next few weeks. This will be the third beer to be released bearing the Elusive Brewing name and it came about in short order as Head Brewer Ryan spotted a gap in their brewing schedule between Christmas and New Year and got in touch to see if I fancied collaborating on something new ("let me think for a second... OH HELL YEAH!").
The recipe was constructed after visiting the brewery - literally about an hour later - to look at the ingredients they had to hand. The aim was to brew something around the 4% ABV mark and we'd be brewing it the very next day, New Year's Eve. Ryan noted they had a lot of Vienna malt in stock and fancied brewing something with a high percentage of the grist made up from that. Vienna malt gives a lovely toasty biscuit-like flavour and aroma when used in high quantities. The hop store was full of various American hops but it was the newly arrived German hops that caught my eye - and nose! After some discussion, we settled on a recipe - a Vienna Pale Ale with all German hops - which are known for being more subtle than their American relatives. The beer has fermented out and is being dry hopped with a lot more of those same hops. The varieties used are 'new breed' rather than traditional and are bursting with lovely fruity aromas. The beer is being racked next week and will be available soon afterwards in cask and a very limited amount of keg. Please contact Siren if you're interested in stocking it, but be quick as there's not much to go round.
So, why the name? Well there's a prize* at stake for the first person to post a comment below with the correct guess as to its origin. The clues are above so get thinking (or googling)!
* This won't be beer, at least not this beer since none is being bottled. Must be over 18. Judge's decision is final!
NOTE: Competition is now closed so comments have been disabled.
