The Rake Bar - 22nd April 2012

The last venue on our April meet the "not quite yet a brewer" tour is the one that is making us the most excited. The Rake Bar has been a London craft beer staple for 5 years and we feel privileged to be asked to come along in their London beer week.

So Sunday 22nd April at 3pm we will be offering samples of 3 prototype beers.

Our Single hop series has reached number 9. This series is more of a learning experience for us and is a good way to find out the ins and outs of hops we are not that familiar with. However they do tend to produce some good beers. Junga is a Polish hop and here it is married with a simple malt base and clean yeast to show it off to its best effect. Quite subtle compared to some of our beers but clean and refreshing, would be a good beer for a hot summers day.

 Next up is our Sunshine Saison. Saison seems to be the in beer style at the moment. We add some Munich malt to give a slightly orange golden colour, where many saisons are a pale yellow straw. The French saison yeast we use seems to eat just about everything you put in front of it to give a dry spicy base on top of which we have added some additional spices and some hops that have a lemony edge to them (Pacific Gem and Sorachi Ace).

Finally we have Fade to Black. I don't really want to get into a fight over what style of beer this is...all I will say is that it has a complex grain bill including some rye and an almost as complex hopping schedule, topped off with a load of dry hops. My love of Sorachi Ace is known to some and it shows some of its most complex nuances here with hints of coconut, and sticky sweets from your childhood. 

So if any of these beers appeal, do come and see us at the Rake on Sunday afternoon, taste the beers and tell us know what you think.