Aircrew from 771 Squadron Search and Rescue, based at RNAS Culdrose, in Cornwall, spent a day with the Rebel Brewing Co in Penryn brewing a charity beer.
The crew are hoping to raise plenty of money for CLIC Sargent, the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity and the Children’s Hospice South West through sales of Rebel Rescue Ale, which will be available in bottles and in cask.
The Culdrose crew were put fully through their paces during their brewing day, gaining true hands-on experience in the brewhouse.
This is the latest in a series of special projects for Rebel as the brewers settle into their new building, opened at the end of last year. The initial Rebel Brewery was little more than a garage in Penryn town. The new premises comprise a spacious industrial unit with room for eight fermenting vessels, a dedicated bottling area and store, bar area and shop/reception.
The four-barrel brew plant is not often idle with a number of local pubs and bars to supply and orders going as far afield as Birmingham, Oxfordshire and even Scotland.
Golden session bitter Penryn Pale Ale, originally a one-off wedding ale, is a popular stalwart of the Rebel portfolio, but proving equally popular with an increasingly large legion of supporters are more leftfield brews, such as black lager Bullhorn and brewer Guillermo Alvarez’s Mexicoco – Guillermo originates from Mexico and is a graduate of Heriot Watt university, in Edinburgh, through which so many of the UK’s top brewers have passed.
The black lager has German lager yeast, diacetyl rest, is krausened – adding fermented beer to already fermented beer to improve conditioning – and is cold fermented. “It could only be more German if it was brewed in Germany,” laughs Guillermo.
Managing director and brewer Rob Lowe explained that the air crew would be back soon to help rack off and bottle Rebel Rescue Ale. Look out for bottles and casks this spring.
• Pictures courtesy Rebel Brewing Co
This blog post is not by Wobbly Wallet but originally appeared on Beer Today: http://beertoday.co.uk/?p=12558
