The Young Ones

Something always seems to be going on at Friends of Ham these days. Whether it's a beer launch or a meet the brewer the place always seems to be abuzz  with a positive atmosphere.

Tonight the Revolutions home brew entries will be judged alongside the shuffle board. Later this week Nigel from Sunbeam Ales will be putting on one of his first casks of Yorkshire Pale Ale for sale. Even the bar has seen a bit of a recent transformation and elongation to make things more streamlined.

The reason for my quick visit today however was, surprise surprise, to try a beer I had heard that was on cask for a limited time...

Juvenia (Latin for young ones) sounds like it was a collaboration above what most people would imagine. Brewed by the younger members of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling, the list of people I heard were involved included; Rob from Copper Dragon, Ol from Roosters, Brian from the Grove and Bitches Brewing, Ben Adams from Wye Valley, a few guys from Joseph Holts, some from Purity brewing and a few from Coors, amongst others, and Thornbridge of course! After communicating via email about what the recipe should be like they came up with the idea for a hoppy Porter. The hops for the brew were picked on the day and the ladies from Coors chose the combo of Celeia, Columbus and Motueka. I had been told that Thornbridge Dom had a bit of a fear of amber malts on the day also....

It's a dark beer, but not the darkest. Strong aromas of coffee, earthy hazelnut and wood are present too. The initial mouth feel is a bit light but the flavour is big! Lots of tart, bitter black burnt malts, dried fruits (raisins) and a good dose of chocolate - a bit like a black forest gateau. Fresh, moreish, roasty and excellent! There's been a lot of talk about how you can't really tell the difference between a Porter and a Stout, and trust me, there's been plenty of respected people write about how Porter and Stout are basically the same thing. Drinking this tonight though, I can't help but think that you couldn't call this beer a Stout, this could never be anything more than a Porter in pure form.

Grab some while you can, it'll go quick! Whispers of another colab brew circled around the pumpclip though...