Brains Green Dragon uses fresh hops

 

 One of Brew Wales' favourite beers from last year is set to make a return to the bar this October.

Welsh brewer Brains celebrates the hop harvest by re-brewing its green hopped beer, Green Dragon.

Instead of conventional dried hops, which are widely used by brewers, the 4.1% pale ale uses freshly grown hops – some from Brains’ usual hop supplier in Worcester and some courtesy of the Lisvane pub, the Ty-Mawr, making this beer both a seasonal and a local one.

Bill Dobson explains: “Hop plants are harvested around September every year, and to make sure brewers have enough to last them until the next harvest, the hops are quickly dried and packed to keep them as fresh as possible.

“Because fresh hops have to be added to beer less than 12 hours after being picked, we only get the chance to produce a beer like this once a year, making it a true seasonal product. I hope our customers enjoy it.”

Members of Bill’s brewing team made an early morning trip to Newnham Farm in Worcester earlier this month to select the hops for Green Dragon and brought them back to the Brewery to add to the boil in the early afternoon. The casks were late-hopped with extra hops grown in the garden of the Ty Mawr.

The pub’s manager, Graham Wheatley, explains: “We’ve got our own vegetable patch, or compost corner, in the pub garden, which we use to grow vegetables to supply the pub kitchen. This is the second year we’ve had a hop harvest and we can’t wait to have Green Dragon on our bar.”

Green Dragon will be available in 30 Brains pubs from early October.