India Pale Ale (IPA) is a classic British beer style. Modern interpretations have been heavily influenced by the US, taking the IPA in the direction of big hop hits with highly flavoured yeasts and fruit additions. Our new Gooseberry IPA is born out of a love for those modern, big esters and hop flavours and an ambition to translate them to a lighter, more crisp beer with a clean finish and a nod to it’s British heritage.
We’ve used British whole gooseberries in the boil and puree after fermentation to give a fruit tartness to it. Their simple sugars create the crisp finish as well as adding a depth of flavour from these sour fruits that we felt would complement the hops and yeast notes well.
We brewed with a significant amount of UK hops – Ernest and Olicana - to provide sharp citrus notes, lychee, florality and a hint of earthy, spicy complexity. We also added some US hops to deliver those big punchy notes; Citra to provide a soft sweetness to balance the tart notes from the gooseberries, and Mosaic lending that breadth of fruity aromas we’ve come to love in New England IPAs. It was fermented with Llalemand’s New England yeast at a fairly high temperature in order to generate more esters, bringing the yeast’s own contribution of fruit and spice to the beer.
Overall this beer is a union of tart, green fruitiness from the gooseberry, citrus notes and florality from the hops and a gentle earthy, spiciness from the yeast, culminating in a complex yet clean IPA.
