Scream for me beer drinkers! SCREAM FOR ME BEER……. Ok sorry, I do get carried away, and I have the obvious selection of music playing in the background as I type.
Back in July 2016 we released the first of our Hops Maiden England series. The label text outlined the idea, and that’s what Cut & Paste was made for right?
“Yes, we find sanctuary in those big tropical fruit, citrus, piney U.S. and New World hops. But you dont have to be clairvoyant to see the problems. Unfortunately, with the explosion of new craft breweries around the world, these hops are getting harder to reliably source from year to year.
We have taken on the challenge to create a really great Pale Ale, with just English hops. There are many classic English Pale Ales, but we wanted to get a little closer to the American Pale Ale, to bridge the styles a little. So with a set grain bill as the base of the beer, we will be experimenting with as many interesting new English hops as we can get our hands on, releasing several different versions until the Hop Maiden has found the perfect combination, and we can christen a new core beer.
This is the Hop Maiden. She does not listen to heavy Metal, but that girl will run to the hills to find us the best in English hops. “ (Worked out what I’m listening to yet?)
Since then we have brewed 5 different variations, and the beer gone down well with drinkers. It has been a lot of fun and challenging at the same time. Also, it has been very tempting to continue forward and have the hops change with each and every batch, like Little Things That Kill and Holy Hoppin’ Hell. But, we have beers that change and that was never the point of this project. We really enjoyed all the versions we brewed; some more than others. It is also debatable whether we achieved our goal, but a great beer that everyone at the brewery enjoys immensely has been born.
We all have our favourite "Hops Maiden England" and we are searching the Internet's rating sites, but we also want your help in deciding. So, it is time to dust off your beer note books, delve into the dark corners of your memory, find that napkin, anything and anywhere you noted down your thoughts on each or any of the beers. Use this info to get online and rate the version(s) you got to try, or simply let us know your favorite by voting in the pole below.
We will use this info to decide which version will become the latest member of our core range, under the name "Maiden England".
Listed, most recently brewed first:
- 12/16 (batch 388) Olicana, UK Cascade, Target
- 09/16 (batch 369) Target, Phoenix, Olicana
- 08/16 (batch 354) Target, Archer, UK Cascade
- 07/16 (batch 337) Olicana, UK Chinook, UK Cascade
- 06/16 (batch 328) Olicana, Minstrel, Bramling X