by Andy Marsh from Hydrology – Hops at Home
Back in April, I had an idea about brewing a beer for Hops at Home‘s 1st birthday. I knew the brewery I wanted to brew with, the beer style I’d like to brew, and even the name of the beer…..so a few weeks ago I went up to Rigg & Furrow in Northumberland to brew a black IPA, and Toil was born!
I had an absolutely great day brewing with Theo up in Northumberland…. I mean, I say ‘brewing’, but it mainly involved me saying, “What’s that?”, “What does that do?”, “Why are we putting that in?” and Theo being VERY patient in his explanations. Honestly, I can’t really speak highly enough of Theo who was so welcoming with his knowledge and love of beer which is so infectious. AND most importantly he moulded a tiny idea of a beer into something that is absolutely cracking.
I’m really excited to bring you Rigg & Furrow’s latest beer, and not only is it theirs it’s ours too! In name, this is a collab, but I can’t take credit for the measurements of hops/malt/yeast/water or anything in this beer because Theo did all of those things. He moulded a tiny beery idea I had into a beer that is inclusive without being boring and exclusive without excluding. A beer that teaches you not to judge a dark beer by its colour! This Black IPA contains the four C’s of hops – Cascade, Chinook, Columbus and Centennial – and the kveik and sacch trois yeast blend makes it a dark and delicious reward for a hard year’s TOIL.
Please go out of your way to visit Rigg & Furrow’s taproom and drink their amazing beer!
The beer
Toil is a black hoppy beer fermented with a blend of kveik & sacch trois, hopped with Cascade, Chinook, Columbus & Centennial to bring top notes of piney grapefruit, while the black malts bring a dark chocolate undertone. Fermented with Rigg & Furrow’s yeast blend to deliver fruity esters with an assertive bitterness.
A dark and delicious reward for a hard year’s toil. #BIPAcomeback
Vegan friendly, unfiltered, and available in keg, 440ml cans, plus limited cask, too.
Hydrology – Hops at Home featured in our South Shields craft beer scene blog post – check it out here. Toil is available to buy whilst stocks last from their website or to click & collect from Rigg & Furrow. You can also follow Hops at Home on social media for more updates: