Best new beers of 2011…Tempest RyePA
The halfway point of our best new British beers feature sees us in June, at the Scottish Real Ale Festival in Edinburgh. Last year, the SRAF introduced us to the wonderful Fyne Ales Jarl – hopes were high for a similar Eureka moment in 2011. As it happened, the very first beer to pass our lips on the trade session was just that – from a small brewery in the Scottish Borders…
RyePA (5.5%)
Tempest Brewing Co, Kelso, Scottish Borders
(cask, released June 2011)
The last twelve months have been quite something for the Tempest Brewery. Having been founded in the middle of 2010 by Gavin Meiklejohn, the brewing arm of Kelso’s Cobbles Inn has become a hive of activity. Customers at the Cobbles had been asking Gavin about the lack of local beer for years, before he decided to take the plunge and provide for his drinkers directly. Having been homebrewing for a while, following a spell at the Whistler Brewing Company in Canada, Gavin set about creating a few interesting ales for his punters, produced in the remains of a nearby dairy.
Fast forward eighteen months or so, and Tempest have now produced 16 beers (including such notables as a smoked vanilla porter and a similar dark beer spiced with chipotle chilli). From supplying the local Inn, you can now find their beers as far away as London – and in cask, keg and bottle. Showing no sign of slowing down, Gavin’s latest release is another porter – the bottled Red Eye Flight Mocha Porter – which is sitting in my cupboard ready to go. However, way back in June, it was a beer lighter in colour that really stood out.
30% of the grist bill for RyePA was malted rye, and to let it really influence the beer, the majority hop addition was done as dry-hopping rather than in the kettle. The result was a fabulous toffee, caramel and toasted bread aroma, with some orange edges from the hops. The balance of RyePA was perfect – the nutty, grainy element of the adjunct mixed with the floral, fruity hop. If this came from the USA blogs like ours would be raving about it – and with good reason – it’s a fabulous beer.
Join us tomorrow as we continue our series of best new British beers of 2011 – we move to the UK’s capital for another brewer who made waves this year [answers on a postcard]. RyePA was the first beer to be bottled by Gavin and his team, so keep an eye out at your local bottle shop…
