The tables are lined with schooner goblets (2/3rd of a pint size, for the uninitiated) and cans of Fourpure's Session IPA as people filter into the conservatory at the Clove Hitch, ready to hear what Fourpure Brewery's John and Sophie have to say at the latest Meet the Brewer installment. As the cans are snapped open and poured, John is filling people in on his background and experiences of drinking back home in the United States followed by how he happened upon his opportunity to brew for Fourpure. The commentary ran from him discussing culture-shock of drinking lower abv beers when he moved to the UK from New York, where his drinking experience in the US was centred around much higher percentages north of 6%. Essentially his observations starkly highlighted how political the landscape actually is in the UK, not only based on scales of brewers, but also on the occasionally fractious relationships between traditional cask drinkers and those embracing beers served from kegs. John's move from London saw him working for Meantime Brewery before he met with Dan and Tom Lowe and setting up shop as Fourpure, so named after the four main ingredients used in their beers. Fourepure, as with another Bermondsey outfit covered in the blog around this time last year are surprisingly recent to the brewing scene. Another one of those breweries whose brand seems to have been around a lot longer than it actually has; they are barely 3 years old, having set up in 2013 and began their canning of beers in early 2014, which is very soon in most breweries’ lifespan. The brewery feel this is better for their beers due to protection from light and oxygen, but also a lesser impact on the environment from a sustainability and materials point of view. What about the materials within those materials? Session IPA A 4.2% glugger, pale, refreshingly simple and works excellently from can. The Session IPA uses a four hop combination of mosaic, simcoe, cascade and centennial to give a slightly hazy but pine and tropical fruit laden aromatic beer. There is some florality on the nose, along with a lot of pine and citrussy notes. Against Johns' high abv sensibilities, the percentage was squeezed down but without too much detriment; a solid base for the malts of golden promise, wheat and some caramalt balance things out quite nicely and the level of acidity in this along with a perfect amount of body gives a very rounded and easy drinking pale ale. On a side note with the canning, the labelling is very, very good; information about content etc is an excellent touch. Amber Trail A deep copper to red ale, the Amber Trail is 5.4% in strength and is based on Vienna lager style, with an effervescence and malt profile to provide something with a level of refreshment along with plenty of flavour. The nose is rich and malty, with red berries and a bready yeasty punch at the back along with some caramel around the edges. This beer also uses German tettnanger hops to retain a Germanic presence in the beer, truer to the origins of the style. Southern Latitude An American Pale Ale style 4.7% beer with tonnes of hop character to boot. This is apparently the first ever seasonal beer that Fourpure have brewed and looks golden to straw coloured with loads of aroma thanks to the use of Galaxy, Topaz and Cascade. The nose is full of tropical fruit, jolly rancher sweets, grapefruit, mango and even some blueberry for good measure. The body is mildly chewy and the carbonation is strong to keep things very acidic and fresh, though it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is Winter down under and this is bound to put a summery complexion on things there! Who thought a freebie pile of galaxy hops would lead to something so accomplished? Flat Iron American Red Another 4.7% US inspired ale, this time red in name, red in body and full of woody, sweet cedar and caramel notes on the nose and in the flavour. This beer is named after the red hills over in the US, near Boulder, Colorado. An interesting bit of trivia was posited by John at this point, that if Boulder was upscaled in terms of population/size to that of London, there would be in the region of 1192 breweries located there, such is the passion for brewing there. Impressive. The Flat Iron beer itself (back on topic) uses crystal malt along with a combination of colombus, cascade, equinox and citra hops to give an overtly dry red ale with unripened fruit character, a cap nip/marijuana aroma and hints of green peppercorns and some coffee around the edges. There is a real depth to the freshness of this red ale, thanks in part to the acidity which is not out of balance. Vertical Drop IPA With the appearance of a hazy wheat beer, white and cloudy with a thin white head atop, this ale carries some seriously pungent aromas. At 5.9% it is brewed using fresh orange, coriander seed, US yeast strains, cascade, centennial and citra hops, this is a tribute to what John regards as the style which has driven much of the 'craft beer revolution', especially in the United States. This is a very, very bitter beer with tonnes of flavour in the form of tropical fruit, citrus and pine as would be expected from any punchy IPA, but the acidity giving such a juiciness in the mouthfeel is excellent and gives almost a lingering orange cordial flavour. There is so much going on, but the undercurrent of brioche and spice in this wit/IPA hybrid adds some depth to a very accomplished IPA. Burnt Ends So named after the classic barbecue dish or by-product (depending on your stance), this ale gives everything you would expect from the moniker. Burnt Ends is a 5.8% take on a German rauchbier, which imparts smoke onto the grain during kilning and this translates into a smokey flavour in the beer. Brewed using around 30% smoked malt and 10% roasted rye, with chocolate malt and black malt also making up the grain profile, this gives deep smokey and roasted coffee driven brew. There is also some dark chocolate in the flavours and aromas with some salted caramel and bacon. A very deep beer which would benefit from pairing with some cheeses, cured meat or even chocolate cake rather than being a chug-alone drink. Drhop Kick Dropping back down the strength spectrum to 4.5%, this American Pale Ale is back on track of the usual Fourpure offerings; pine, tropical fruit including mango, lychee and pineapple this is a bit of a hop bomb. The malt profile works excellently, proving a good foil of toasty cereal to the dry controlled finish and five (simcoe, citra, mosaic, cascade and centennial) hop combination. Simple, fruity and very effective. Shapeshifter IPA Another fruit overload and slightly heavier in the kick with a 6.4% strength, the Shapeshifter is an amber coloured IPA which has plenty of aroma in the form of pine, lemons, tropical fruit (almost confected, like jolly ranchers!) and other woody notes. The mouthfeel, balance and finish are all brilliant in this, the acidity brings a juicy freshness to counter the grains and for a first iteration of this brew, they've got it pretty close to the mark of what I think it should be. John admitted to agonising over the recipe for some time, trying to figure out the ideal hop combination for this resinous west coast IPA with a controlled aggression in the finish. Hopped in equal parts with citra and mosaic, this is a great bit of brewing for a first effort on a new recipe. As ever, along with the numerous lovely brews for the event, the Clove Hitch kitchen put on some excellent food – a barbecue on this occasion no less. Superb with the range of beers on offer.
So that’s all for this installment ladies and gents, hope you enjoyed the read and I’ll see you all again next time! Pedro. ------------------- Fourpure Brewing Company22 Bermondsey Trading Estate, Rotherhithe New Road, Bermondsey, London, SE11 3LL Web: http://www.fourpure.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/fourpurebrewing Email: inf[email protected] Twenty Three Club / Clove Hitch23 Hope Street, Liverpool, L1 9BQ Web: http://www.theclovehitch.com/# Twitter: https://twitter.com/TwentyThreeClub or https://twitter.com/theclovehitch Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
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