David and Rachel Holliday from Norfolk Brewhouse
'Norfolk. Heritage. Local Community'
Like many brewers David developed his own home brew before he took the big step into commercial beer making by setting up Norfolk Brewhouse and the Moon Gazer beers. Having developed several award-winning craft brews, David and his team have created a beer exclusively for Jarrold using Norfolk ingredients such as combined Maris Otter malt barley grown on the North Norfolk Coast and Hindringham honey to create a deliciously complex amber ale.
“The Jarrold brew is lovely as it uses ingredients grown locally and a few miles away from our brewery at Hindringham,” said David. “We were extremely honoured when Jarrold asked us to create an exclusive ale for them which encapsulates Norfolk in a beer.
“As well as being a unique recipe for them, the team at Jarrold really wanted the whole ethos behind the beer to represent three key things: Norfolk. Heritage. Local Community.”
And the ingredients reflect this. Starting with the malt, the beer uses Maris Otter malted barley from Crisp Maltings a few miles away from the brewery, and also Chevalier Heritage, a malt with a history that traces back to 1819. Chevalier malt was around for over 100 years before being superseded in the late 1920s. It made its return in 2014 as a heritage variety thanks to Crisp Maltings. Then comes the hops, which was a challenge to choose, as David explains: “We needed a hop that wouldn’t overpower the malt tones, but one which would add plenty of traditional character. A favourite hop of ours is called Ernest, this delivers great flavour with the fruity notes of apricot, citrus and spice.”
Then there are the other ingredients – the water is chalk filtered drawn from the well at the Brewery, and to add a little sweetness Hindringham honey is used to add a subtle background note.