Sweet Sixteenth
Welcome back to our monthly newsletter, this time round it will be more retrospective than usual. We’ve had such a busy September that it was hard to keep up!
At the beginning of the month we released our Stigbergets beer collab, (a New England India Pale Ale!) more about that below, and on the 18th we are celebrating 16 years of The Kernel with an alumni event and two beer launches.
What’s Happening This Month
As we began planning for our 16th Birthday we wanted to take a moment to reflect on not only how far we had come but also the friends that were with us along the way.
With that in mind, we invited some Kernel Alumni to part in a Tap Take Over which would also coincide with the launch of two new beers; Brown Stout - London 1812 and Pale Ale - Ernest.
Gordon & Emma of Newbarns Brewery, Toby of Burning Sky and James of Ideal Day will be joining us on Thursday 18th September at our Spa Road Venue to help us ring in 16 years.
In addition to this event, we invited 16 venues across the UK to help us launch our two new beers on Wednesday 17th September.
Based on a recipe from the Barclay Perkins archive (our oldest yet!) and using Simpson's Malts newly released malt 'Pale Export Brown Malt'.
New England IPA - A Stigbergets Collab
This collab came about as a result of the friends you make at beer festivals.
Last year we attended These Hills Beer Festival, which sadly was cancelled due to terrible weather. However it was at this festival where we met Erika of @stigbergets at a Brewery tour of @harveysbrewery, and then later on during a pub crawl around Lewes Erika joined our contingent and from there a friendship grew.
Earlier this year one of our brewers, Jess, went over to Göteborg Sweden for the first leg of our collaberation. Bringing some
of our experience of and history with this very London beer style into play. For the return leg at our brewery in London, we asked them to bring their experience of brewing hazy New England IPA to share with us, and this IPA is the result.
A bit about the beer:
Low Colour Golden Promise, wheat and oats make up the body of the beer, a substantial portion of both of the latter giving body, heft and haze. We used a version of their house yeast blend, various strains from London and Yorkshire via Vermont, which add a rich stone fruit character that plays beautifully with the hops (Citra, Mosaic, Simoce and Galaxy), giving them an underlying scaffolding and support.
The hops come through quite saturated on the nose, initially quite bright citrus and pineapple, then slowly dispersing into apricot, oranges, jam, guava. The texture is full and round, accentuated by the oats and wheat, sweet with a touch of alcohol, and juice and fruit.
It then steps back a little, dropping in a finish just a touch drier than what has gone before, with a small hit of bitterness that’s barely perceptible but is essential to hold things back from being cloying. Trying to hit that point of being sweet while still refreshing, full without being satiating.
🛒 Fresh Bottles Online
Pale Ale (Ernest), Brown Stout - London 1812, Dunkel
Nationwide delivery available, with free delivery for orders over £65.00 in Mainland UK.
🍷 Taproom Open Wednesday - Sunday
Come by for fresh pours, bottles to take home, and some stunning food from Yagi Izakaya.
We will be pouring Brown Stout - London 1812 and Pale Ale - Ernest from Wednesday 17th September and on the 18th we will be hosting Newbarns Brewery, Burning Sky and Ideal Day Family Brewery for a Tap Takeover. Each brewery will showcase two of their beers that night.
Our Spa Road venue has 25 draught lines, 2 cask lines and an array of wines and soft drinks.
📍 Bermondsey, SE16 – Find Us
instagram.com/thekernelbrewery