Innis & Gunn Will Release Porter-Styled Winter Beer 2012

Just in time for the cold-weather months ahead, pioneering Scottish craft beer maker, Innis & Gunn, debuts its FIRST Porter-Style Brew for the season – Winter Beer 2012. Inspired by a centuries-old beer recipe, Innis & Gunn’s CEO Dougal Sharp, discovered the 19^th-century recipe in the pages of A. Scots Cellar, by Florence Marion McNeill. In those days to make beer, molasses were traditionally used to give depth and sweetness to the brews, but also to create greater viscosity and heaviness in the mouth. The Winter Beer 2012 combines this old-fashioned method, along with Innis & Gunn’s trademark approach to long, slow maturation resulting in a complex and sweet brew.

“I was reading “A Scots Cellar” by Florence Marion McNeill, a celebrated book on the history and tradition of beer and spirits in Scotland, and came across a brewing recipe, over 100 years old. It incorporated molasses as part of the brewing process by using it to impart beers with great complexity and sweet notes. This is exactly what we wanted to recreate with our very first oak-matured Porter. The new Winter Beer 2012 is definitely one of those beers you would fancy savoring whilst warming by the fireplace on dark winter nights,” says Innis & Gunn CEO Dougal Sharp.

 

The Winter Beer 2012 is a rich, complex and malty beer with notes of molasses, fruit and hints of chocolate. The first sip starts with flavors of oak and molasses then develops to reveal a firm and full malty backbone, with traces of orange oil and wood. Roast malts, tobacco smoke and chocolate are also present throughout. This delicious journey ends with a soothing finish like an open fire on a cold day as the roast malts, molasses and hop bitterness fall into balance and linger with occasional hints of the signature Innis & Gunn vanilla notes.

 

The Innis & Gunn Winter Beer 2012 is the fourth Limited Edition beer to be released in the US market, and will also be available in Innis & Gunn’s Holiday Winter Pack alongside the Innis & Gunn Original Flagship and Rum Cask. The Winter Beer 2012 will be available for a limited time only in the US and is priced at $10.99 for a 4-pack.

About Innis & Gunn:

Innis & Gunn was first established in 2003 as a joint venture with a leading drinks firm, who had approached Dougal Sharp, then head brewer at Caledonian, to create a beer that would lend the perfect finish to a Cask Ale Reserve whisky. The beer was too good to throw away so Innis & Gunn (the middle names of Dougal Sharp and his brother Neil) was formed. Dougal led an MBO in January 2008 and the business is now under private ownership.

Innis & Gunn has two core products in its range: Original and Rum Cask, as well as many award winning Limited Edition beers. Innis & Gunn is available in ten countries (UK, US, Canada, Sweden, Ireland, Switzerland, Denmark Finland, Norway and Australia) and in 17 states in the US.

Innis & Gunn Launches Spiced Rum Aged Beer

This month pioneering Scottish craft beer maker, Innis & Gunn, releases its third exclusive limited edition for the US market: a small-batch Spiced Rum Aged brew infused with the finest spiced rum from the Caribbean. In a landmark move by the brewer, which has won worldwide plaudits for its innovative oak-aged beer, this is believed to be the first Spiced Rum Aged beer to be made for the US. Spiced Rum is the fastest growing segment of the Rum Market in the USA with over 9-million cases being sold each year.

“We wanted to create a beer that would capture the spirit of the summer season,” says Dougal Sharp, CEO of Innis & Gunn. “The ingredients and the way that we have made this beer give it a delicious taste and aroma, bursting with spiciness, fruit and vibrancy.”

To create the Spiced Rum Aged, Innis & Gunn used its Oakerator™, the only one of its kind, which is an alternative way of oak ageing Innis & Gunn beer and the only way for them to create this unique new beer.

Dougal explains:

“Caribbean distillers mature their rum in oak casks and then add their spices in a vat at the end of the process. There are no such thing as a ‘spiced rum barrel’ so we have made Innis & Gunn Spiced Rum Aged in a different way, using our unique Oakerator™ process

Dougal adds:

“Ever since we discovered the effect of maturing our beer in a first-use bourbon barrel back in 2002 we have been exploring different methods of oak-ageing to create great tasting beers. One of our most exciting projects has been developing our Oakerator™. This resulted from a programme that we undertook over several years at a cost of $150,000 at Herriot Watt University in Edinburgh, which is one of the world’s leading schools for brewing and distilling.

“The Oakerator™ enables us to make beers we would not otherwise be able to. At its most basic it imparts the typical flavors of barrel maturation, but above this it allows us to be even more creative with combinations of oak and spirit not normally found. Rather than putting the beer into the barrel, in the Oakerator™ we are getting the effect of ‘putting the barrel into the beer’, which, literally, was one of our earlier experiments!

“To make this beer we infuse air-dried, heartwood, toasted American Oak with an especially fine blend of spiced rums. We then bring the oak and our special beer together in the Oakerator™ in a unique process which enables us to achieve a perfect balance of oakiness and Caribbean spiciness in the beer.

“The Oakerator™ opens up a world of possibilities in making new and great tasting beers in the future.”

The final result is a well-balanced delicious beer with notes of baked apples and pears along with hints of dried fruit and oak. At your first sip the mellow biscuit malt is brought to life by rum notes of caramelized fruit and pear. The hops add a bitter quality and tastes of lychee, which complements the oak. This all diminishes to allow the rum to shine through with a trace of banana leaving lingering malt sweetness. All together, the mellow toffee character of the malt balances the lively spiciness from the rum and the bitterness from the Whitbread Golding Variety hops.

The Innis & Gunn Small Batch Limited Edition Spiced Aged Rum is now available for a limited time only on US shelves and is priced at $12.99 for a 4-pack.

Innis & Gunn Spiced Aged Rum is the third Limited Edition beer to be released in the US, following Innis & Gunn Irish Whiskey Cask, which was introduced in January, and then Innis & Gunn Independence Day, which debuted in July, both selling through the trade almost immediately. Over the past nine years, Innis & Gunn has won an international following for its innovative Limited Editions as well as the core range of Innis & Gunn Original and Rum Cask.

Tasting Notes

Color: A rich toffee hue.

Nose: Rich and pudding-like – baked apples and pears with hints of dried fruit, spice and oak.

Palate: The mellow biscuit malt is brought to life by the pungent rum notes of caramelized pear and cloves. The hops add a bitter quality and hints of grapefruit.

Finish: Mellow rum, perhaps a hint of banana, leaving a lingering malt sweetness.

Oakerator™ is a registered trademark of The Innis & Gunn Brewing Company Limited

Website: http://www.innisandgunn.com

Innis & Gunn Releases Beer In Celebration of American's Independence

PIONEERING SCOTTISH CRAFT BREWER INNIS & GUNN PAYS HOMAGE TO THE USA

WITH THE RELEASE OF A LIMITED EDITION ‘INDEPENDENCE DAY’ BEER

The First Beer Maker To Salute and Truly Celebrate The Fourth of July

New York, NY – This Summer, pioneering Scottish craft beer maker, Innis & Gunn, launches its NEW limited edition ‘Independence Day’ beer in celebration of Scotland’s centuries-old ties with the USA. Never before has a beer maker dedicated a brew to this specific day and, as Dougal Sharp, CEO of Innis & Gunn, explains, the brand would not exist without the American Oak that is used to flavor the beer.

“When we first produced Innis & Gunn Original in 2003, its wonderful flavor resulted from the interaction between our beer recipe and the American Oak in which we aged it. And the success we have had internationally has only been possible because the USA has been the trailblazer for craft beer for over a decade. So we owe a great deal to the USA and we have brewed this special Independence Day beer to celebrate this.”

The lineage between the Scots and Americans go way back— to 1776 and earlier — and the history of both countries is deeply interwoven. It all began at the very beginning, when 21 of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence were of Scottish descent and two others had been born in Scotland, only to come to the Americas later in life. Even America’s favorite relative, ‘Uncle Sam’, was actually based on a real man, Samuel Wilson, whose parents were native Scots.

Today, about 30 million US citizens can trace their descent from Scotland. And now, just in time for the Fourth of July, the Innis & Gunn ‘Independence Day’ beer has arrived as a summer-long toast to Americans and Scottish Americans everywhere.

In making the Independence Day Limited Edition, Dougal gave himself a challenge to create a beer that was both refreshing but complex - something that would quench the thirst over a long, hot summer but that would not lose any of the unique flavor attributes the award-winning brewer is known for.

He added: “Independence Day is quite unusual in that it marries two characteristics: complexity and refreshment, which you don’t often find in a single beer. So it both satisfies thirst but also has a full and rounded flavor, which comes from the oak maturation. The taste really evolves on the palate and we’re delighted with the result.”

The outcome is a light and fruity beer with notes of candied apple and marzipan. The combination of biscuit malt and citrus hops tingle the palate only diminishing after the first sip to allow the signature Innis & Gunn vanilla and oak notes to shine through. Because of this combination of Scottish malted barley and mouth-watering zesty American hops, Independence Day is a great partner to BBQ dishes. Innis & Gunn Independence Day is now available for a limited time only on US shelves and is priced at $11.99 for a 4-pack.

Innis & Gunn Independence Day is the second Limited Edition beer to be released in the US, following Innis & Gunn Irish Whiskey Cask which was introduced in January and sold through the trade almost immediately. Over the past nine years, Innis & Gunn has won an international following for its innovative limited editions as well as the core range of Innis & Gunn Original and Rum Cask.

Website: http://www.innisandgunn.com

Follow us on twitter @InnisandGunnUK and join us on Facebook: Innis & Gunn Oak Aged Beer

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About Innis & Gunn:

Innis & Gunn was first established in 2003 as a joint venture with a leading drinks firm, who had approached Dougal Sharp, then head brewer at Caledonian, to create a beer that would lend the perfect finish to a Cask Ale Reserve whisky. The beer was too good to throw away so Innis & Gunn (the middle names of Dougal Sharp and his brother Neil) was formed. Dougal led an MBO in January 2008 and the business is now under private ownership.

Innis & Gunn has two core products in its range: Original and Rum Cask, as well as many award winning Limited Edition beers. Innis & Gunn is available in ten countries (UK, US, Canada, Sweden, Ireland, Switzerland, Denmark Finland, Norway and Australia) and in 17 states in the US.