Innis & Gunn’s latest innovation is a limited edition adaptation of a 6,000-year-old British ale, the Scottish brewer has revealed.
Hot Rocks is a new 7% ABV bottle-conditioned beer that was inspired by the country’s oldest brew, first made during the Stone Age. Innis & Gun used evidence gleaned from archaelogical artefacts to recreate the recipe, which combines bere barely with raw and malt barleys – finished with botanicals such as sweet gale, meadowsweet, horehound and pink heather, which all occurred naturally in the British Isles when the beer was first made.
As part of the brewing process, hot granite rocks are utilised to caramelise the cereals at the heart of the ale, and extract the malt sugars contained within. Launched this month, a limited production run of 120 bottles of the beer will be available in a 330ml size format with a recommended retail price of £15.
Innis & Gunn founder and CEO Dougal Sharp said: “I started Innis & Gunn in 2003 to experiment with flavour and make beers, using traditional and innovative methods, that are highly distinctive for their depth of flavour. In making Hot Rocks, we’ve gone deeper than any other brewer into the back-catalogue of British brewing, taking archaeological evidence dating back 6,000 years – well before man could write – of the earliest-known ale known to have been made on the British Isles and mashing it with all our brewing experience and knowhow to create a less rough and ready, more refined brew for the modern day, with an ABV to match. This brew is particularly close to my heart because I have scuba-dived a lot around the inner Hebridean coast and the use of Scotland’s indigenous granite rocks seemed so right for this special brew.”
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