Patrons Projects 12.07 Evolution of Tradition

Hopped with El Dorado Cryo, Centennial, Citra. THE BARBARIAN’S BEVERAGE Beer is an ancient drink and has been brewed for thousands of years, right here in the North of England. Beer and brewing's connection with the North, and Yorkshire, is deep rooted and part of our shared history. When we began looking into bringing back an historic brew, initially for a beer festival, we spoke to Dr Samuel Gartland from the University of Leeds who helped us delve into the beers and brewing methods of the ancients. Armed with this knowledge, a pilot brew for a festival by our own Fraser Bisset was made, taking inspiration from academic research, and the evidence of vessels that contained cereal, honey and meadowsweet from the early bronze age found in Scotland. It let us try and get as close to that 5,000 years of brewing history as possible, and it kept it relatively close to home. We kept the base pale as it seems likely early brewers would be sun-drying their malt, or even using fresh un-dried malt rather than any form of direct heating, smoking or kilning. Initially using dried meadowsweet flowers instead of hops for flavour and stability, which add a creamy, honey like aroma and flavour along with a slightly medicinal, root beer like flavour to the finish; and honey was added towards the end of the ferment to avoid scrubbing too many of volatile honey aromatics out with vigorous early fermentation.