Sunday 2 December 2012

Shotover Oxford Porter 5% ABV

Three years and about 320,000 pints after starting the brewery we thought it was time to introduce a third  beer.  This was not an easy decision -anyone who has visited us knows our space constraints and that we have to be positively Japanese in our organisation.  We decided to produce a winter beer and that a classic Porter would fit Oxford's history and our own local postitioning.  So Oxford Porter was born.

The recipe was developed along the lines of a London Porter - we aren't sure there is a recorded history of Oxford Porters although these must have been common in the eighteenth century.  The malt recipe used a combination of six malts at various kilning levels from Pale to Black plus a healthy dose of rolled oats to give a bit of smoothness.  The hopping regime was simpler - just the English "noble" hops Fuggles and Goldings but in typically generous Shotover quantities.  We were astonished by the results; pitch black, all expresso coffee, chocolate and silky smoothness with a strange condition that looks flat when first poured but then slowly breaks through into a thick creamy off white head that laces the glass.

As someone who has drank pale amber beers for years it was a revelation.  It has an intense flavour and complexity. The brewhouse smells like a chocolate factory when we make it. I now go out trying black beers wherever I go.

 The 800 litre pilot batch sold out in a week.  The second full 1300 litre batch is leaving the brewery now.  We plan to have it available until Easter 2013.

Brew details:
Malt (Warminster) : Pale Maris Otter, Crystal Malt, Brown Malt, Chocolate Malt, Black Malt, Wheat Malt, Rolled Oats.
Hops: Fuggles (UK), Goldings UK)


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