Throughout this week, we’ve been revealing two beers every day on our blog: one from our BRÚ Core range and one from our Urban Jungle series. Many of these beers are now available on shelves in off-licenses and shops across the country, but keep an eye on our social media for where you can find them (and remember to let us know where you spot our beers by tagging us in your posts!).
Today, we’re excited to showcase our BRÚ IPA (BRÚ Core) and Panda Nero Tiramisu Dessert Stout (Urban Jungle).
Introducing BRÚ IPA:
A bold and pleasing beer, BRÚ IPA uses Strata, an experimental hop, Centennial and Cascade for zesty, floral and mouth-watering aromas and flavours. These are balanced with a bready backbone from the malts. A hoppy— but not aggressive—beer. Taking inspiration from the Celtic figure Anna Danu, the primordial goddess of nature, this IPA uses only the highest quality ingredients, resulting in an exceptional beer that’s rounded, approachable, but not for the faint of heart.
Our Head brewer, Francesco, provides some tasting notes:
The IPA was another beer in the range where I decided to develop a new recipe to reflect a truly modern-tasting IPA. As a typical “hophead” brewer, I spent time scouring all the unfamiliar varieties that I could find—enter the Strata hop!
Gaining momentum in their use in American brewing, Strata is relatively unknown in Ireland, but I knew as soon as I got my hands on it, it was the hop I was looking for! The recipe pretty much wrote itself, taking the lead from its delicate passion fruit flavours and pungent citrus aromas. I believe we are the only Irish brewery using it in a core beer and we’re delighted with the result.
Pure Irish Pale malt is the right base and support for showcasing the Strata hops—partnered by Centennial and Cascade for a rightfully complex IPA with a huge drinkability factor.
Malts: Pale, Maris Otter, Arome
Hops: Strata, Centennial, Cascade
Malts: Maris Otter, Oat Malt, Munich, Caramunich II, Chocolate, Roasted Barley
Hops: Tradition
Introducing Panda Nero - Tiramisu Dessert Stout:
Another one of the brews that featured in the Carrig range, Panda Nero is very close to my heart, as a proud Italian trying to recapture the joy of opening my Nonna’s fridge and catching the delicious aroma of her freshly prepared homemade Tiramisu!
But we realised this recipe needed some refinement to really celebrate all these bold and indulgent flavours. The first thing was to increase the ABV to deliver the richness and dessert-like drinking experience we wanted to achieve. Like all dark beers, water treatment is the key for a nice, rounded result. Caramel and Roasted malts in the mash offer a balanced bitterness that prepares the beer for the two most important steps in its brew. Freshly roasted and ground Ethiopian and Guatemalan coffee beans are added in slow, cold steep for 24 hours after fermentation, and then the final magical touch is a generous addition of Tiramisu extract. When opening a can of Panda Nero, it really is like that heady perfume of cream and coffee and sweet mascarpone from my Grandmother’s kitchen.
So, which beer do you fancy? Remember to check back tomorrow for another reveal.
We can’t wait to hear your feedback on our new ranges, so keep showing us your beers and sharing your thoughts on social media and Untapped.
