Tack! Collaboration with O/O Brewing.

Having never particularly embraced New England IPAs (as drinkers or brewers), we saw the opportunity to brew with Olle from o/o as the perfect time to really get out of our comfort zone and learn something new. Olle is a master of the art, having been instrumental in bringing the style to Sweden whilst working at Stigbergets Bryggeri, and more importantly with the launch of his own brewery, o/o. 

Beyond some technical tweaks here and there, the biggest difference for us was simply the vast quantity of dry hop; in Olle’s experience, one of the key factors in haze formation and stability. This beer has been dry hopped at roughly double the rate of our standard IPA. This, paired with a haze-positive yeast, has really paid off. The beer is as opaque as you like, and the hop aroma, well it really is quite something!

Olle tends to favour slightly more bitterness in his NEIPAs than is perhaps typical, more in line with some of the first examples of the style. This definitely suits us as a brewery, as it is often the distinct lack of bitterness, and resulting clagginess, that puts us off. 

I think the beer has really worked. The aroma is bold, packed full of juicy mango, cantaloupe and honeydew melon, and a touch of pine. The melon notes carry through immediately onto the palette along with a soft, juicy mouthfeel. This is then balanced by a gentle bitterness, leading to a pithy, tangerine like finish.

Making beer with other brewers really is a fantastic opportunity to learn. Tack! represents a massive departure from the vast majority of our output, and we are grateful to Olle for sharing his knowledge and experience with us! 

Hedgerow: Whole Cone Hop

A Classic Pale Ale, brewed with Whole Cone Harlequin and Bramling Cross hops. Grassy and floral notes, reminiscent of the sprawling hedgerows of the English Countryside, are paired with subtle aromas of passionfruit, peach and apricot. The use of whole cones, as opposed to pellets or other hop derived products, imparts a fullness of hop character to the palate, as well as a roundness and depth to the bitterness. A satisfying, traditional pale ale, perfectly balanced and endlessly drinkable.

Home Run! An American Cream Ale

The welcome return of an old favourite! Delicate aromas of lemon and lime leaf, aromatic lychee, dill and a touch of corn. Light, clean and crisp on the palate with more notes of lemon, lychee and blueberries. Low bitterness with a clean finish and a touch more corn. 

Originally brewed in 2014, The Cream Ale was a unique, Sorachi Ace single hop Ale/Lager hybrid that quickly became a firm favourite. However, with inconsistencies with the characteristics of the hops, and hindered by our rigid naming convention, The Cream Ale was retired in 2020. Now back with a fresh new look (inspired by the original illustrations) and a new name, Home Run! has re-captured the magic of the early batches of The Cream Ale.

Big Top Bitter

The origin the behind the Big Top Bitter was to brew a bitter that represented a marriage of my own love of Black Country and Shropshire brewers. The beers I often drank back home in the West Mids finished dry with a bitter finish. Additionally, they almost always had a high level of hopping derived from British Hops grown in Herefordshire, incidentIy, where I grew up. Having a deep appreciation for this brewing culture I wanted to brew a beer that reflected it. We chose Maris Otter as a base and loaded the grist with crystal and amber malts. We wanted a rich malt backbone that would support the hop additions and give body to the bitterness.

Late last summer, we visited a couple of Hop Farms in Kent. We were looking to experiment with our brewhouse and find ways to successfully brew a wet hop beer. Needless to say, we succeeded and were extremely pleased with the results. This served as a springboard; we repeated the technique using Fresh Whole leaf East Kent Goldings instead of Wet Hops. We used our Mash Tun as a hop back and loaded it with then EKG to give a brilliant, fruit-forward hop aroma.  

Richard Ekins (The Brewer)

UCaLe - Brewed to commemorate UCL's Bicentennial

Founded 200 years ago, UCL emerged when London was the global hub of brewing - an industrial era dominated by fierce competition among the city's largest porter breweries. Porter, the dark precursor to stout, was a staple for workers and city dwellers alike, no doubt also enjoyed by some of UCL's early staff and students!

184 years on, as London's brewing heritage waned, UCL Psychology Lecturer Dr Keith Langley advised student John (Jack) Hobday to home-brew “to save some money on beer!”. Inspired, Jack teamed up with then flatmate Paul Anspach (a King's College London Philosophy alumnus), and in 2014 they founded Anspach & Hobday.

Twelve years later, we proudly present UCaLe, a light, fresh, English-hopped Bermondsey Pale inspired by the London workers who travelled to Kent each summer to pick hops. It features the hop variety Ernest, rediscovered and named after pioneering mycologist, Ernest Stanley Salmon (1871-1959), who worked at Wye College, University of London.

This year, as UCL marks its 200th anniversary and our brewery turns 12, we're thrilled to say we are now London's biggest porter brewery, thanks to our renowned London Black. A historic milestone we hope our academic forebears would applaud.

To find out more about UCL's bicentennial plans visit the UCL200 website and please visit UCL's Institute bar to enjoy UCaLe on campus.

Please enjoy responsibly!

John (Jack) Hobday, BSc (Hons) Psychology 2010, UCL