National Football Youth League
North East Premier
Wednesday 8 December 2021
Played at Handsworth
SUFC 2021/22 Game #32
It's a Thing now. I had that in the week;
Abbeydale Brewery, Fresh Hop Heathen on Cask at 4.1%
Look, I'm shooting from the hip now, as a lay-person beer drinker. Rather than someone who knows what they're talking about. Beer needs Hops. Which come in a variety of different guises.
Some are picked and just put in a big bag. And when they get to the brewery they are a combination of dried flowers & dust.
Some are processed in a factory and turned into Hop Pellets which the brewer can drop into the big steel tanky things.
Some are dried out, say like raisins are, and can be used to give an extra burst of hop flavour.
Some are used very quickly after picking. Often by breweries very close to the hop fields. These are often called Green Hop beers. Occasionally, you'll see Green Hop Beer Festivals.
And, now we have Fresh Hops. Which really are better described as Frozen Hops. Hops which are picked & flash frozen immediately. And then transported, frozen, along the supply chain. So that when they reach the Brewery in S8, they can be defrosted. And used as "fresh as the day they were picked".
This is the first Hop Harvest year when Frozen Hops have been globally available. The ones used in this Abbeydale Heathen were picked in Grandview, Washington State in the USA. Grown and processed by Wyckoff Farms. (Historically, they had the equipment & logistics to harvest, freeze & export Blueberries).
Abbeydale explain that they emptied out their brewing schedule once they knew the hops were on their way across the Atlantic, and via Liverpool. In that way, the brew kit would be ready to use them as fresh as daisies.
The frozen batch were Mosaic Hops. I think Abbeydale did something rather clever in using a thoroughly tried & tested (malt) recipe in Heathen Pale. One less moving part if you like. Basically, they have then chucked the Hop Kitchen Sink at it. Using the Hops at different stages in the brewing & other wizardry.
Frozen Fresh Hop beers are truly one off. Because the next batch of frozen hops (ie next year), are bound to taste a little different to this years. It felt a bit special to be able to pile in at The Rising Sun, which is effectively my geographical local. Very nice. Big, punchy hop flavours in the smell & in the taste. Not one single off tone in it. Fresh & zingy.
An enjoyable game up at Handsworth. Disrupted by what at first looked like a nasty ankle injury to one of the Liverpool lads over on the far side. There was a lot of concern around him for a bit. The linesman on my side of the pitch came over to ask me whether I'd seen what had happened over there on the far side. Neither of us could work it out. AnyRoadUp, he was eventually hopped over to the bench and spent the rest of the game lied flat on the bench. I hope they drove the minibus down to the bottom car park for him !!!
It was basically pretty even all round. But, Liverpool got their noses ahead with goals on 32 & 34.
An equaliser on 56 put the Blackboard Blades back in it. But, as it got deeper, Liverpool seemed to be controlling the game. Ever more attacking intent. Some of it desperate. Was rewarded by a claw the game back two all equaliser on 81. Good game.
Twitter @ball_sup
www.twitter.com/ball_sup
Untappd ball_sup
Stats
I have now Blogged from 1,034 games in 2,668 days
No comments:
Post a Comment