Sanction X 4.3% Cherry Ale - available January 20th and 21st at the Tap Room
Every so often we do something for no other reason than we want to, and this is how we arrived at our third beer of Tryanuary - our first ever cherry ale, a beer quite unlike anything we've made before.
The process was a little like when you chance across a car that you really don't need, yet you yearn for it anyway. We've all been there - you start scheming all of these justifications as to why you need it and they're all a little shaky, yet the purchase still goes ahead. Don't ask questions, just jump in.
Cherry Bomb exhausts? The cherry red hot rods of the 1950s? The gorgeous flash down the side of the iconic Alex Xydias So Cal Speed Shop Lakester? We searched for automotive inspiration but in the end we really just wanted to make a cherry ale, so we did! But we think you'll love it nonetheless.
On the small-batch experimental kit above the bar in our Bicester Heritage brewery, we're making a new Sanction beer for each week of Tryanuary. This week's is a 4.3% cherry ale, brewed with sour cherries in the fermentation process which add that striking sourness we're after, which is balanced by the sweetness from the natural sugars we get from the beer. There are bready notes, but the overwhelming flavours are cherry all the way. We carbonate in the tank above and then serve it right downstairs on tap, producing a bold ale that pours and drinks just like a kegged beer should.
