The ethos behind the beer recipes and production is that a brewer, is much like a chef – the intention being to incorporate all things beautiful into a taste sensation. In the case of a food chef – this can of course be achieved in several courses and also in a single mouthful. And so it is with beer. All about balance, harmony, layers, memory, contrast and surprise, to mention but a few of a beer’s dynamics. And then there is the delicate matter of matching the beer with the food, at which point the conundrum gets very interesting....
In the case of Stoney Ford beers, the intention behind the flavour sensations is to bring as much locality into the beer as possible. We want to put Middle England in a glass. This is not easy. The malt all comes from Lincolnshire where possible and if not, Norfolk. The hops are all English- we don’t import from the US or New Zealand but scour our suppliers lists for exciting and traditional varieties, grown in Herefordshire and Kent mostly. Currently hops don’t grow any more locally, except for in our gardens, which don’t produce nearly enough yet, and the hedgerow varieties all honk of onions – we know, we’ve checked. The yeast is the tricky piece of the puzzle, and as yet, we haven’t found a strain ‘local’ enough to call a Stamford yeast strain, but we are working on it, and if we can’t find one, we will make one. (It can be done, believe us). Local ingredients and local artisans producing local speciality foods are all potentially in the mix to add some more flavour combinations for some of our forthcoming bottled beers.