A popular brewery is celebrating its 175-year anniversary and it’s set to mark the occasion by bringing back a popular recipe. St Austell Brewery, based in Cornwall, is launching a limited edition cask ale to mark the historic occasion. Re-using the brewery’s archived recipe is a way the company will honour their decades in business.
The beer is named 1851 to mark when founder Walter Hicks established his brewery. The recipe is based on former brewer Merv Westaway’s handwritten journals from the 1800s. These documents are currently kept in the brewery’s own archive where it documents its past.
The original records went into a level of detail that is rarely seen in modern brewing notes.
The Fuggles hops, which give the beer its earthy, piney bitterness, were even attributed to a specific grower, Cooper’s Farm in Kent.
The recipe, 1851, is brewed with pale Cornish malt, amber malt, wheat malt and Caramalt.
Its result is a deep mahogany beer with a 5.1% ABV, biscuit notes and a slight dryness in taste.
St Austell is known for its popular beers, including Tribute Pale Ale and Proper Job IPA.
Its drinks are available in pubs and supermarkets across the nation, such as Wetherspoons, Morrisons, ASDA and Tesco, reports The Sun.
The brewers still maintain their south coast links by supporting 160 pubs across the region.
Brewing director at St Austell, Georgina Young, said: “We wanted to create something that genuinely reflected our history – not just a beer to mark a milestone, but one that connects us directly to the brewers and practices that shaped the business.”
The beer will be brewed exclusively but it will only be available for a limited time in some pubs in the south west.