#ISBF6 Brewday 3 - Five Towns Brewery : Brewing With Friends
Some brewdays feel like coming home….
It has been said before. When the first tweet referencing ISBF was sent, the first brewer to respond was Malcolm Bastow (of Five Towns Brewery). With the acronym (or at least I THINK it was an acronym) BOGOF.
As a consequence, over the last five years, it has become tradition to brew in that little Wakefield “garage”. To do something a bit…. silly. And tasty. We’ve done a Peach & Mango IPA (Art Decade), a Cognac infused Raisin Coffee Stout (Secret Life of Arabica), a Rhubarb Belgian Tripel fermented with yeast from Brasserie Orval (Always Crashing In The Same Car) and a HUGE Breakfast Stout (Candidate). And if you know your music, you will spot the theme….We’re both huge fans of David Bowie.
I like getting people involved in brewdays. Getting people to see the process of turning dry grain into something so tasty. And special. Something to marvel at. Goggle eyed. “How did they do THAT?”
And I had a LOT of offers to come to Outwood. To brew in this garage. This little slice of heaven that has produced the Beer of the Festival FOUR times out of the five years we've been around.
Think about that.
So at 7am, both myself & Steve (aka the Karkli Sherpa) were in the rear garden of this Outwood residence. Drooling in anticipation.
His willingness to play and try something - at being open to suggestion - has meant that there has been a guarantee of something “impactful” at this event. And it's testament to his skills that - even with beers from many of the most revered breweries in the country - his beers have been the most popular, year after year. With one exception (more about THAT next month!)
He also likes BIG beers. Session beers aren't really his “thing”. So when I suggested the beer style for today, he was all ears….
My thinking was two fold. Bold abv (Malcolm's thing) married with my personal favourite beer style. An American Brown Ale. Big. Hoppy. Earthy and Biscuity. All the yum. In one glass.
If you've taken part in a brewday, you'll know what comes next. Mashing in. Transfer to copper. Hop additions. Transfer to fv. Etc…
Five Towns is small. 2.5bbl. Which means - ordinarily - 10 casks. Maximum. But this brew will only yield 6 (and one of those is ours). This size gives considerable flexibility. And - owing to his reputation for excellence - you can guarantee that these are pre-sold pretty much.
So. What's coming. From this little garage of delights?
“Panic In Detroit”. A 7% (or thereabouts) American Brown. Late hopped with lots of lovely Mosaic, Cascade & Citra and dry hopped in the fermenter with more Mosaic, Citra and Cashmere.
If the smells in the brewery are anything to go by, it will be a rather special earthy, biscuity hoppy thing.
Just what this particular Doctor ordered.
If you need to ask where you'll get to try this first, they you haven't been to ISBF before! 😂
Here. Of course. On Halloween.
Come and join us. Tickets here. Trust me, there are more, simply exceptional brewdays coming up!
Back soon.
Be kind to one another.
Jim x