The craft beer industry is a friendly one. Brew kits are passed on like baby clothes, tap takeovers and tastings are a weekly occurrence, and brewers regularly swap ideas and make beers together. After meeting the Dugges Bryggeri team back in 2016 at The Bottle Shop, my good friends at Anspach & Hobday got them back to Bermondsey a year later to collaborate on a brew and share some special beers. Here’s Paul from A&H to talk about what they brewed together:
“When we first met the guys from Dugges, they took a real liking to our stouts. With this in mind, and the fact that Dugges make some fantastic dark beers, it was inevitable that we decided to brew a stout together. We wanted to incorporate the characteristics of a nice, spicy Syrah so we used small amounts of liquorice root, black pepper and blackcurrants. For the next step, we called upon Gavin from London Cru, an urban winery in Fulham. So far, all of A&H’s barrel aged beers have been aged in London Cru’s barrels, and on this occasion the timing was perfect. Gavin will be emptying the barrels in a fortnight, so when we get our hands on them they will be super fresh and drenched in Syrah. With this in mind, we will probably only leave the beer in there for a few weeks, just to take on a bit of the wine character and a hint of oak. The resulting beer should be in the region of 8.5%.”
After a hard day’s work (and some darts), the A&H taproom was reset for an informal tasting event featuring four specials from each brewery. Dugges brought two sours, The Black Apple and The Moscatel Sour, along with The Double Crush, an imperial IPA, and their last ever keg of The Boxed Idjit, a boozy 12.1% barrel aged imperial stout. Oof. Meanwhile, A&H put on a super fresh IPA, kegged within days of the event, alongside The Passionfruit Berliner Weisse, a re-fermented Funky Saison, and a pre-release of the 2016 Brother Sean Belgian stout. It’s safe to say that the following day was a bit of a struggle.
Anspach & Hobday – www.anspachandhobday.com
Dugges Bryggeri – dugges.se
