Shere Khan IPA

Regular readers may have noticed by now that I've got a deep appreciation for the work done by the Thornbridge brewery.  I was blown away the first time I tried one of their beers - it was draught Jaipur at the Sheffield Tap. Jaipur has gone on to win award after award, and is often credited with spearheading the recent resurgence in strong hoppy IPAs in Britain.

One of my favourite Thornbridge beers is the India Pale Ale called Kipling - it's a blend of classic IPA strength and bitterness, but using New World hops to impart a fruity slightly floral character.  It really is a cracking beer, and I heartily recommend you try it if you haven't already.

I found a recipe that purported to produce something not too far away from Kipling, and decided to have a go.  I've called it Shere Khan IPA after the chief antagonist of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book stories.

HONK! IPA

This is a seriously hoppy, seriously strong American-style IPA.  It's called HONK! because it's going to absolutely reek of hops.  Lovely.

This is another self-devised brew, rather than follow someone else's recipe, but I got my inspiriation for the hops schedule from a recipe I read for Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, which had Chinook hops for bittering, then combinations of Centennial and Cascade late on in the boil, and then some for aroma after the boil.  I've also thrown in some  Nelson Sauvin in the aroma hops, and in dry-hopping.

Thornbridge Oatmeal Stout

To celebrate their forthcoming Great British Homebrew Challenge the good people at Thornbridge have come up with a new recipe for an oatmeal stout to get everyone's imagination kickstarted.

Thornbridge are well known for their innovation in brewing, and it's brought them award after award in the industry, and well deserved those awards are too.  And their slightly radical thinking extends to this stout recipe which is, at first glace, unusual.