The Collective's Andy Lynes joined AD HOP's Andy at the brewery on another sweltering day on Merseyside, starting things off with a brief tour of the facility before getting on with the matter at hand.  The premises are in an unassuming area of the city and littered with brewing equipment over the whole premises, meaning they can engineer their kit in a flexible fashion.

The brief discussion of the recipe led to the aim of a session IPA being created, showcasing some of the two Andy's favourite hops.  Upon completion of the mash and transfer to the kettle, things relaxed a little and a few additions of hops to the boil were followed by 30 minute whirlpool additions including Amarillo, Chinook, Nelson Sauvin and Simcoe.  A few beers were then taken in to take the edge off proceedings!

Upon completion of the fermentation, the beer was dry hopped with Citra, Lemon Drop and Amarillo hops to complete a juicy and dank beer; a true hop cocktail at 4.9% abv.

AD HOP Brewing and the LBC give to you a Hop-heavy Session IPA; Gollum

​[If you wish to place an order for this collaboration brew, please contact sales@ADHOPbrewing.com - supplies are very limited]  

It's a cobbling together of styles along with no shortage of craft and creativity, in short, it is Gibberish by name and almost Gibberish by nature; and it works.

Brew days with Gaz are never dull days and our collaboration was no exception.  Before arriving there were a number of idea floating round about the style that was going to be made; a herbal stout, a big hazy and juicy NEIPA, an adjunct pale ale and finally, the style that was settled on, a fruit-sour ale. 

Using Pilsner Malt, wheat, unmalted wheat and flaked oats in combination with a low hop dose from Tettnanger hops, the beer was keg-conditioned and soured with lactobacillus courtesy of Chorlton Brewery's 'sour power'.

Thankfully most of the calculations had been carried out by Les prior to the arrival of the Collective members, so all there was to do for the first part of the morning was to empty the sacks of malt into the mash tun and release all the sugars ready to prepare the wort for the boil.

A generous dose of Summit hops was weighed out and added to the boil for the final half of the boil.  The liquor was then transferred across and cooled ready for pitching the yeast, but before the microbes were released to do their thing, a generous helping of grapefruit pulp was added to get this saison into a fruity and lightly acidic mood for palates of the discerning Liverpool Beer Week drinkers. 

Further additions of grapefruit have been added to this grapefruit dry-hop saison following fermentation to bolster the fruit element of this beer in readiness for the end of July and the launch party.

Neptune Brewery and the LBC give to you:  Tempestivus

[If you wish to place an order for this collaboration brew, please contact info@neptunebrewery.com - supplies are very limited]

The water was treated, the malt weighed out and the brewing began.  The common theme as with the other collaboration brews to date was a rising heat in the brewhouse; carrying sacks of malted barley and tipping to mash in was tough and overseen by head brewer Noah Torn.

The arrangement of a tangle of hoses saw the transfer of the wort over to the kettle, whilst a small rest and a restorative beer was taken.  Once the kettle came up to temperature and a rolling boil, hop additions were in order before the 60 minute boil gave way to another transfer, this time into the fermentation vessel.

The next stage was kettle souring and a slightly different technique needed to make an acidic sour beer.  Late additions of adjunct ingredients mean we have now got something very different and very special ready for Liverpool Beer Week.

The final result will be an immensely refreshing and summery Grapefruit and Watercress Sour ale...
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Chapter Brewing Company and the LBC give to you: A Crowd of Distractions

[If you wish to place an order for this collaboration brew, please contact chapterbrewing@gmail.com - supplies are very limited].

​In the soaring temperatures, the work began with hot liquor transferred to the mash tun where the grain bill was added. 

Pale ale malts, wheat and oats; the mash was a thick and gloopy one, meaning plenty of hard work stirring the tun as the fermentable sugars were drawn out of the grains.

​At this point we were briefly joined by Stan Shaw, another of Melwood’s brewing cadre - it was an honour to meet the man who mentored Mark Yates of Connoisseur Ales brewery, who is sadly no longer with us.  Not only does Stan brew, he is an experienced engineer and has an important role producing parts for and physically tweaking the brewery kit.