Thornbridge brews new beer on Union set to keep cask ‘relevant’

Thornbridge Brewery has released a new IPA, named The Union, which will be brewed exclusively on its newly-acquired Union set.

The launch follows Thornbridge having saved the historic brewing kit after Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) faced criticism after it said it had decided to retire the four remaining union sets at Marston’s Burton-on-Trent brewery at the start of the year.

Since then, Thornbridge started experimenting with the kit with its flagship brew Jaipur before turning its attention to the new beer, brewed exclusively on the Union Set.

The Burton Union set is a wood barrel fermentation system that was used by Bass and Marston’s from the Victorian period, with CMBC being the last to use it, before Thornbridge’s latest usage.

Speaking to the drinks business, Thornbridge has insisted that the new beer will assist the cask ale category in staying “relevant” and marks a “rebirth” in British brewing.

Thornbridge co-founder and CEO Simon Webster told db: “The Union IPA gives cask the chance to be topical and relevant – this beer is a contemporary take on traditional thinking and the rebirth of a part of British brewing history – it’s a new day, a new dawn and a new life for The Union.”

The Union system of fermenting was widespread across Britain by the mid-1800s, when British beer was famous across the world. Thornbridge has said that it wanted to take this idea and use the finest modern ingredients to create “a superb, contemporary beer”.

The grain bill is made up from Maris Otter malt from Norfolk, a touch of Simpsons’ Crystal malt along with ”lashings of the special ‘Brewers’ Invert No.2’ sugar from Ragus”.

The hops used in the brew are Goldings sourced from Hawkins Farm in Herefordshire and Northdown from Gay Dawn Farm in Kent. Additionally, the water has been Burtonised with Gypsum and Thornbridge has used two yeast strains in the recipe — a British cask ale strain has been used along with a California ale yeast.