#ISBF5 Collab Brew No 5 - Five Towns x Rivington
At last! The final collab of the 4 day #ISBF5 #CollabFrenzy. And one I’ve been looking forward to for almost 7 months.
As some of you may know, I (Jim) have a favourite beer festival. It’s East West Fest. Originally modelled on the first ISBF, it had stayed true to its original premise. Generally, that is beer from the North West & Beer from Yorkshire. In cask. And it’s like no other cask event.
I source the beers / breweries from the North West. And in April arranged a collab brew with Malcolm (Five Towns & East West Founder) and Ben at Rivington. A beer that became Citra Ra Ra. A Citra DIPA. And an utter juice bomb on cask.
We then decided upon a return match. For #ISBF5.
Then, about a month ago, Ben had an idea of something he wanted to try.....
So. For the 3rd time in 4 days, I was on the road. Early morning. To that magical shed in Wakefield. From feeling shattered, I was energised. Because I was excited by the plan. But I soon realised I didn’t know ALL the details!
Mash tun. Crammed. Unlike Sunday, this wasn’t a double mash.
With that full and steeping, out came the hops. Early hops (bittering)? Nah. Late hops, Lemon Drop & Amarillo. Followed by flame out aroma hops of Citra & Mosaic. Lots
Fruity too. Creamy. NOT for the lactose intolerant (sorry Jock!) VERY fruity. Mango. Peach. Passion Fruit.
Unlike Sunday, this was a smooth brewday, with everything going like clockwork. Ben tried to guilt trip me (joking) by helping to clean up. But I was cleaned out. Elated, but knackered. What a way to finish four straight collab brewdays though. With two of my favourite brewers. Playing with ingredients like big kids.
And it hasn’t been dry-hopped yet! With unfeasible amounts of Lemon Drop, Amarillo, Mosaic & Citra…
Being an individual who starts Trilogies at no 2, this was bound to be out of sequence. This is Beer 3 of a trilogy. The 3rd song of a sequence. Sweet Thing/Candidate/Sweet Thing (Reprise). The name of the collab sequence came from a conversation from #ISBF4. From Jock. His favourite Bowie song(s). Mike’s (Mr DJ) too. Both HUGE Bowie fans. As is Malcolm.
Sweet Thing (Reprise) : Imperial Fruited Milkshake IPA. Who wants some? Tickets here. There aren’t many left.
One day later………Vivid enough for you?
Ignore the abvs!