Knot 2, but three beers for July
/Rathlin’s Famous Blue-Eyed Golden Hare captured by STICKYBEAK
Some people hang on to all sorts of things don't they? Can't throw anything out.'That'll come in useful one day.' (as in not). However, I saved a newspaper clip and pinned it to a cupboard in the shed. It's been there for years and guess what? It came into use! It was a photo of the golden hare of Rathlin with a brief explanation that they are unique to the island. Being in isolation they evolved to have a lighter, sandstone colour coat. Strange creatures, hares. They live above ground all year round, they box each other in March, and they can stand stock still and fix you with a beady eye for ages waiting to see if you blink before them.
When it came time to brew and name a beer from further along our coastline what better subject than the Rathlin hare? To match the idiosyncracy of the subject matter we used a 'heritage' malt that has only recently come back on the market. Chevallier malt was popular in the 19th century and has now been resurrected to join the craft beer breweries palette of ingredients. It's a little sweeter than other pale malts.
Our Rathlin Gold has a light honey taste as well as floral and herbal notes from the yeast used and the two 'traditional' pale ale hops - East Kent Goldings and Bramling Cross. At 3.8% we are sure it will be a great summer session beer and hopefully continue all year round. I did have a bottle saved round here somewhere, hiding.....in amongst all that stuff I keep saving for a rainy day. Ho, hum....some day.
Knot Pale number 2
We now have the second beer out in our experimental pale ale series. This is Knot #2, a pale that we have dry hopped with Simcoe and Galaxy. The latter hop is known to give a punchy passion fruit hit, perfect for heatwave weather! The label features a different knot - we're not sure if you put it next to a bottle of Knot #1, will the ropes join up?
Elephant Rock
Also...the Rock is back. Yes, that summer fare, Elephant Rock is on its seasonal re-issue. There are a number of fan-bases up and down the country for this beer, one in particular being the Royal Portrush Golf Club. I think it might be the fact that they can see Elephant Rock from the course.
I wonder if it's possible to fly a hot air balloon as an Elephant Rock bottle across the the White Rocks during The Open? No? I didn't think so.