Escudos

With Escudos we wanted to pursue that 'holy grail' of brewers — a really hoppy, sessionable beer. We have done quite a few higher abv's beers over autumn and winter so we wanted to step that back a bit. We didn't go too low - it's 4.5% - and that enabled us to double dry hop it with Simcoe, Amarillo and Mosaic. Crucially, these are the new harvest (2017) hops so they're really fresh and punchy. There is a considerable grapefruit aroma and taste, amongst other tropical flavours.

Also we used a New England strain of yeast that had just become available on the market - Get er Brewed told us as soon as they had it in and we said 'thank you very much, we'll have some of that!' It's worked well, giving us that hazy pale ale we were after.

We'll be pouring it for the first time on Thursday evening at our next tap take over in Northern Lights on Belfast's Ormeau Road. We're big fans of the bar. It's in an amazing space and has an incredible selection of beers. Watch their Facebook page for details of what's pouring, and maybe one or two other surprises.