beer style

Coming Soon: Vegan Oyster Mushroom Stout!

Coming Soon: Vegan Oyster Mushroom Stout!

GOTCHA! Hope you didn’t fall too hard for our April Fool (we’ve kept it below in case you missed it)!

But we do have real new beer news and our little joke wasn’t too far from the truth. We have indeed always wanted to make an oyster stout and, as a brewery committed to only producing vegan beers, that’s been a no-no. So we’ve worked around it and made a stout using oyster mushrooms!

Our oyster mushroom stout really is in tank right now and it will be available for drinking in the next couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for news. The word on the streets of Walthamstow’s most glamorous industrial estate is that it’s tasting amazing!


The original post…

At Beerblefish we’re really proud of our commitment to keep our beers vegan, always. We’ve written much before about how we achieve this, and it means that some styles of beer are off-limits to us, or very difficult to make – no milkshake IPAs or honey beers for us!

However, we’ve always wanted to make an oyster stout and now, finally, we’ve found a way to do it – by using entirely vegan oysters grown specifically for the purpose right here in the Lea Valley. These oysters have never touched an animal product; no bacon butties for breakfast, no milk in their tea.

After a tense and meticulous growing program, our brewer, Michaela, put on her waders and carefully harvested enough to put in one small brew. She likes to call the oyster beds her “water allotment” – an extension of the land-based allotment she lovingly tends throughout the year.

One of the benefits of using vegan oysters is that they are less likely to produce pearls, meaning there’s less chance of breaking your tooth on one if it slips into your pint. Our oyster stout is in the tank now and should be ready to drink in the next couple of weeks – keep an eye on our social media for a launch date!

Posted by James in Beer Launch, Beer Styles and Recipes, Brewing
Drink Like A Viking

Drink Like A Viking

Our very own Beerblefish gruit, Viking Ale, has been pouring from cask all week in the taproom. It is a beautifully balanced herb beer. Not all of the ingredients are widely used in modern food and drink, so I thought it would be useful to discuss them in a blog post and see if we can pick out the flavours contributed to the ale by each different botanical.

Gruit is a term used to describe a blend of botanicals that flavours a beer, and the name of the style of beer that uses the blend. Before hops became the norm in beer production in the 14th and 15th century, all sorts of different herbs were used for the same reasons we use hops today; flavouring, bittering, and some even had antiseptic qualities to aid in preserving the beer.

Why drink one in the 21st Century? The style produces complex and interesting beers that adventurous drinkers love to explore, and brewers find really fun to make! The floral and herbal notes found in gruit ales are not found in your average hop-forward modern beer and drinking them gives a sense of connection to history.

Juniper – Familiar to fans of gin, juniper brings a resinous bitterness to the ale that balances the sweet malt character perfectly.

Heather –A bit more mellow than some of the other ingredients, the heather really rounds out the flavour and softens any sharp edges brought by juniper or myrtle.  Contributes a woody aroma and a floral taste.

Myrtle – Sweet and resinous, Myrtle brings an aromatic pine-like note to the experience. A particularly important ingredient in many gruit ales as, like hops, it has a preservative effect and can help extend the shelf life of beer.

Yarrow – Bringing a sweet, perfume-like note, yarrow is subtle butgives the beer a really bright floral twist.

Kveik – In addition to the botanicals, we also couldn’t resist fermenting the beer with farmhouse yeast. Traditionally collected after each brew and passed down through generations of farmhouse brewers in Norway, Kveik (from the Old Norse word ‘kvikk’, meaning quick or lively) is now available commercially and we think it adds a touch of authenticity to our Viking Ale.

Skol!

Posted by Alex in Beer Styles and Recipes
Black Black Black

Black Black Black

This is what every stout should look like, so bright you can see your camera in it.

Posted by James in Beer Styles and Recipes, Brewing
First Pint

First Pint

This was a very exciting day, today I was able to order my beer in a pub. I had dreamed of this day ever since the first home brew in Manchester. As you can see I was too excited and had had a bit before saving the moment for posterity. My first pint of Bloodletter IPA went down very well.

It was a wonderful evening with many great comments from customers, friends and family.

Thank-you all for helping make this possible.

Posted by James in Beer Launch, Beer Styles and Recipes
First Commercial Brew Kegged

First Commercial Brew Kegged

This weekend we have kegged up the first batch of Bloodletter IPA. This will be on sale later this week at the Salisbury in Harringay. For further details on the launch party take a look at our facebook .

Posted by James in Beer Launch, Beer Styles and Recipes, Beerblefish HQ News
Admiral’s Arch Ale

Admiral’s Arch Ale

The admiral hops finally showed up. This evening we were down at UBrew running up a test batch of Single Variety Admiral Ale. I have been meaning to do a batch with Admiral for ages, as a British hop with a pungent orange aroma, I want to see how it compares to the citrus notes of Citra and Amarillo. 

The bowl of hops you see in the picture above had an exceeding delicious orange aroma, with light herbal tones. I can’t wait to see what it comes out like. It is 2-3 weeks till I can, and I will keep you posted.

Posted by James in Beer Styles and Recipes