We’ve been quite busy here at IMBC towers. Not only have we got a slew of new breweries lined up for your delectation in October, we also got our collaborations for this year under way.

To kick off our collaborations this year, we traveled to Caerphilly a few weeks back, to brew a very special Berliner Weisse with Tom Newman at Celt Experience. Tom loves to experiment, so he set up a yeast collection station at Tintern Abbey. After leaving it exposed to the elements for a while, Tom sent off the specimens to a lab, where the yeast was isolated from bacteria and other organisms, and then grown up for the collaboration! So, in addition to the traditional Berliner Weisse yeast strain, the wild yeast has come into play. It’s still souring away now… the results are definitely going to be unique. There may also be a fruited version in addition to the straight Berliner Weisse…

The next day, it was time to brew with the guys at Weird Beard Brew Co. Conditioning in the tank now is a Dark Saison, hopped with Magnum, Aurora, Target, and Columbus, as well as orange zest. The result should be a beer that may look dark and heavy, but is light and fruity… Thanks to both Celt and Weird Beard for letting us come down and making beer for IMBC!

More collaboration news soon…

Words by Claudia Asch