Ep79 — Time Hopping with Siren Craft Brew

Established in 2013, Berkshire’s Siren Craft Brew has rightfully grown to become one of the most well-respected modern breweries in the United Kingdom.

We at Pellicle have been lucky to have followed Siren’s journey since pretty much the beginning—I even hosted a tasting with founder Darron Anley at the Duke’s Head Pub in Highgate all the way back in 2015. They’re also one of our dedicated pro-Patreon supporters. As such, when their head of marketing, Andy Nowlan, got in touch to ask if we’d be interested in doing some collaborative content around the second edition of their Time Hops project, we said yes without giving it a second thought. 

Time Hops is Siren’s way of helping drinkers to understand the nature of hops, from their development and cultivation, to how they present themselves in finished beers. Siren produced four different beers for this year's edition, and we diligently produced four different stories about each of them, and the hop they focused on.

Mark Dredge donned his lager hat once again, and told us the story of the sublimely elegant noble hop, Saaz, from the Czech Republic. In her Pellicle debut, Robyn Gilmour wrote about Australia’s fantastic Galaxy—a hop with something of a chequered past that is finally beginning to come back into its own. Katie Mather told us a story from the other side of the Tasman Sea, about one of modern beer’s darling hops, Nelson Sauvin. Last but not least, Lily Waite-Marsden dug into the more recent story of Strata, one of the most exciting young hops on the market today.

But we weren’t done there. As part of Siren’s Time Hops event at their taproom in the village of Finchampstead, Pellicle headed down to host a panel-led discussion all about the project and the four beers that have resulted from it. In this episode I’m joined by Darron Anley, plus head brewer Sean Knight, and Martin Rake from The Malt Miller, who delivers some fantastic insight into hop procurement. 

It’s a long conversation, and a fascinating one to boot, especially if you’re interested in all things hop-related. Thanks again for Siren for inviting us to collaborate on this fascinating project with them.

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