Simon Buckley's latest Iechyd Da column
The latest Iechyd Da column by award-winning brewer Simon Buckley, of Llandeilo's Evan-Evans Brewery. It appears in this week's edition of the Carmarthen Journal -
It's official: Summer is over!
That’s not because the weather is colder, or indeed wetter, it’s because the first new season Malt samples have just arrived, and our annual invitation to view new season hops has landed on my desk.
This is the time of year when we brewers review the first of the new season grain samples, and decide on what hops we are going to use in our beers over the next 12 months.
Each year the raw materials change very slightly and we have to adjust our recipes to allow for the slight difference the growing season has produced.
This year, we have the rich golden berries of Pearl Winter Barley.
With the samples comes a detailed scientific analysis, and from this and the visual look of the malt we then decide which variety we are going to use, and forecast our usage for the next year.
Our first field visits to the hop gardens has given us a good idea as to the hops we will use in the coming year.
A good mix of American, traditional English, Czech and New Zealand varieties will give us the base for our new season beers, each one producing a specific characteristic, from spicy-bitterness to soft berry fruit.
Sadly we don’t grow malting barley and hops in Wales, but we can rest assured that some of the rain that grew them came from Wales!
In the late 1880s Harry Davies, the Head Brewer of our family brewery in Llanelli, started a tradition that I am proud to continue, as part of our rich brewing heritage.
When a new male member of the family is born, it is the tradition that the Junior Brewer would produce a commemorative ale to celebrate the safe delivery of the next generation of the family, and to wet the baby’s head.
In mid-July Harry John Buckley was born, a bouncing 5lb 12 ozs.
And, hopefully, the 8th generation of the family to brew beer!
Unlike Harry Davies, we do not have an army of subordinate brewers to produce the beer, so Ivan Kelleher my award-winning brewer and myself have set to work.
We believe that HBA will be a truly memorable beer.
It will be brewed in the first week of September using the first of the new season's malt, a dark premium ale of 5%, with a rich malty full bodied taste, and subtle berry fruit, a classic autumnal ale.
It will be some 17 years before Harry will legally be able to taste his grandfather’s handiwork, but I hope you will join the beer revellers at the Carmarthen Beer Festival, to taste what I believe will be a memorable autumn ale, and to wet the baby's head.
http://sirgarblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/simon-buckleys-latest-iechyd-da-column.html
It's official: Summer is over!
That’s not because the weather is colder, or indeed wetter, it’s because the first new season Malt samples have just arrived, and our annual invitation to view new season hops has landed on my desk.
This is the time of year when we brewers review the first of the new season grain samples, and decide on what hops we are going to use in our beers over the next 12 months.
Each year the raw materials change very slightly and we have to adjust our recipes to allow for the slight difference the growing season has produced.
This year, we have the rich golden berries of Pearl Winter Barley.
With the samples comes a detailed scientific analysis, and from this and the visual look of the malt we then decide which variety we are going to use, and forecast our usage for the next year.
Our first field visits to the hop gardens has given us a good idea as to the hops we will use in the coming year.
A good mix of American, traditional English, Czech and New Zealand varieties will give us the base for our new season beers, each one producing a specific characteristic, from spicy-bitterness to soft berry fruit.
Sadly we don’t grow malting barley and hops in Wales, but we can rest assured that some of the rain that grew them came from Wales!
In the late 1880s Harry Davies, the Head Brewer of our family brewery in Llanelli, started a tradition that I am proud to continue, as part of our rich brewing heritage.
When a new male member of the family is born, it is the tradition that the Junior Brewer would produce a commemorative ale to celebrate the safe delivery of the next generation of the family, and to wet the baby’s head.
In mid-July Harry John Buckley was born, a bouncing 5lb 12 ozs.
And, hopefully, the 8th generation of the family to brew beer!
Unlike Harry Davies, we do not have an army of subordinate brewers to produce the beer, so Ivan Kelleher my award-winning brewer and myself have set to work.
We believe that HBA will be a truly memorable beer.
It will be brewed in the first week of September using the first of the new season's malt, a dark premium ale of 5%, with a rich malty full bodied taste, and subtle berry fruit, a classic autumnal ale.
It will be some 17 years before Harry will legally be able to taste his grandfather’s handiwork, but I hope you will join the beer revellers at the Carmarthen Beer Festival, to taste what I believe will be a memorable autumn ale, and to wet the baby's head.
http://sirgarblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/simon-buckleys-latest-iechyd-da-column.html
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