Introducing Our New West Coast IPA: Our next collaboration from The Union

We recently had the pleasure of welcoming Mark Tranter from Burning Sky Brewery, South Downs, for our next collaboration brew using our union set. We have a long history of collaborating with Mark, with the first brew we did together being the Coalition Old Ale when he was at Dark Star Brewery back in 2009, right up to Vicious Circle, which was a golden ale aged in Burgundy barrels.   Burning Sky, the brewery Mark founded over 10 years ago,  is renowned for brewing exceptional beers and inviting Mark up for a brew in the union set was a no-brainer.

So far we have generally focused our efforts with more traditional British styles while utilising the union kit and we’ve been delighted with the results so far.  Concentrating on expressive British styles have allowed us to showcase the exceptional qualities of our raw materials and cask yeast strain.  However, Rob and Mark definitely felt it was time to change things up and focus on a more modern style in a classic West Coast IPA.  While Burning Sky Brewery are rightly known for rustic, Belgian classics, they also have a streak of excellent hop-forward IPAs and it was this sort of thing we felt it was time to brew.  

Using a blend of low colour and prime Maris Otter, with a little Munich and Vienna malt to bring body and a little richness, we decided to go straight down the line with Mosaic and Citra hops in the whirlpool and hopback, with a further dry hopping after the union-led fermentation.  We used a blend of our British yeast and our California yeast, to add some fruitiness but also allowing the hops to dominate.  The resulting beer is one of our favourites here in the brewery – golden in colour, crisp yet full bodied, the tropical fruit and citrus hop notes shine through beautifully and we’re really happy with it.  We’ve bottle conditioned this beer with live yeast, as we’ve done with all the union brews so far, so pour carefully and enjoy the effervescence!