Hopback Summer Lightning: a bit of a legend in Beerland

Some beers have a pedestal. Sometimes it’s deserved because they are truly great beers, technically and taste-wise. Some are headliners, built by a cheeky PR campaign or an elaborate story. And some are deserved winners of awards and a place within beery folklore.

Summer Lightning by Hopback falls in the latter category. Back when I was enjoying my third year on this planet and coming to terms with the fact I would soon have a baby brother stealing all of the attention in the Fletcher household, John Gilbert of the newly formed Hopback Brewery was quietly supplying his local beer festival with a special beer for their annual event. He answered their brief not with an amber bitter or a dark mild, but with a golden well-hopped beer.

Many years and countless awards later, Summer Lightning had stolen the show in beerland and paved the way for the myriad light ales that dominate beer festivals and pub taps alike.

Summer Lightning has an overtly floral aroma, with a sweet, soft fruit twist. It’s light and herby in the mouth with a mild bitterness. Hints of spice underpin an essentially English hop character, imparting flavours of earth and minerals as if the hops were pulled from the soil rather than plucked from the branches of it’s fruit-bearing plant. There’s a tang of peel too, just for good measure.

Yep, a wine glass to sniff that aroma!

This beer tastes as if it should be lighter in colour, but Summer Lightning differs from those straw coloured ales that sometimes suffer from being a tad watery. Hopback’s most famous beer might not share the body of a contemporay pale ale or best bitter, but it’s 5 ABV just about heaves it over the threshold for being classified as thin, well within the realms of being extremely easy to drink and rewarding on the palate.

I assume (and hope) that a pint of Summer Lightning at Hopback’s brewery tap (The Wyndham Arms in Wiltshire) is twice the beer when drunk propping up the bar there compared with washing down my hastily eaten tea in my living room (if anyone can confirm or deny please divulge your experience!)

Either way, this is a good, refreshing beer (it was good when I had it on cask last year too) and in context you have to give Hopback Summer Lightning the respect it’s earned. It appeared in a different market, when Maggie Thatcher ruled the roost, The Simpson’s was airing it’s first tentative episode and the Berlin Wall still loomed ominously between East and West Germany. Times have changed in the beer world since then, but Summer Lightning is still an important addition to the pale and golden ale categories.

Walking around the compact, but seemingly organised Leeds Brewery with co-founder Sam Moss, it’s easy to forget that the business has only been in existence for a touch over two years.

Situated on a light industrial estate not far from Leeds’ bustling centre, the brewery is the hub of an expanding local empire that now stretches to three pubs across the town centre as well as the modern and compact Leeds Brewery HQ. The team produces three permanent beers and twelve seasonal beers; one for each calendar month. The beers are on sale across the country and also in Leeds brewery’s three self-owned pubs in Leeds city centre.

The Leeds Brewery team

Being Leeds residents and big fans of the beers that the brewery makes, we jumped at the chance to take a day off work and visit our very own local brewers. Upon arrival the other half of the management, Michael Brothwell, was busy making an emergency keg delivery in the back of his Ford Fiesta, so it was down to Sam to take us round the modern set up…

Sam takes us through the mash tuns, coppers, fermentation tanks right to the conditioning tanks where the final brews are materialising, and we chat about beer and business the whole way round. Our first question was simple, where do you start when setting up a brewery?

Leeds Brewery Mash Tuns and Coppers

“We thought it would be a good idea to develop some beers,” says Sam. “We had decided that we would like a pale, medium and dark beer, as well as a weaker, medium and strong alcohol strength beer”.

The results were Leeds Pale, Leeds Best and Midnight Bell, three very drinkable pints that are perhaps less experimental than some of those produced by other fledgling breweries, and deliberately so.

“We had set out to sell beers. This meant that they had to be very drinkable. As well as this, we have worked hard to make the brewery as commercially viable as possible; creating a strong and trusted brand, immediately recognisable and trusted on the pumps at the bar in order to keep people coming back.

Whilst we wander around the building talking – the smell of mash and brew filling the air - it is clear that the brewery house is full of action today. The head brewer Venkatesh Iyer is laying out the casts ready to fill with a freshly fermented batch of Leeds Pale. “Venkatesh is probably the youngest head brewer in the country,” points out Sam with a hint of pride. “He’s great, certainly the youngest head brewer of an operation of this size”.

Leeds Brewery Mash Tuns

Our journey takes us from the stainless steel mash tuns and coppers, through to the polished and gleaming conditioning tanks Some of the vessels are imported from Germany because of course our European friends are the kings of precision engineering – quality vessels are required at this stage to ensure smooth surfaces and thus reduce the risk of yeast infection, which at this point in the process would be pretty devastating.

“We retain the yeast from each brew which means that it is ultimately unique to us. The life span of yeast used in this way is a fairly lengthy cycle, so it can be reused for a good period of time.

Leeds Brewery fermenting tanks

Whilst admiring the shiny vats Venkatesh begins filling the casks with fresh Leeds Pale, hurriedly switching the pipe from cask to cask. Ah yes, the beer.

Sam explains that Leeds Best is an all-British beer; the malt is sourced in Britain, the hops are sourced in Britain and of course the water is British. The team agrees that brewing an all-British product was important. But Midnight Bell and Leeds Pale spread the net slightly farther afield, with Pale using hops sourced from Slovenia.

Unique to all the Leeds beers is the yeast which they use. With each brew, the yeast – unique to the brewery – is retained. The process is one of top fermentation, technically, and the yeast can be captured from the top of each brew once fermentation is complete. The life span of yeast used in this way is a fairly lengthy cycle, so it can be reused for a good period of time.

One of the interesting aspects of the business model is the progression of the self-owned chain of pubs that are appearing across Leeds. The Brewery Tap , PIN, and The Midnight Bell are three modern pubs which stock the permanent cask ales, as well as a range of continental beers (bottled and tap) and guest casks from around the country. Each watering hole has it’s own personality and the system harks back to an age when Leeds acquired its grand Victorian pubs, in the days before Tetley’s moved in and took over the cities brewing and selling trade.

To put the brewing landscape of Leeds in perspective. Sam makes an interesting point that despite the huge Tetley brewery (now owned by the Carlsberg Group and scheduled for closure in 2011), there are very few, if any, competitive breweries in Leeds – one of the largest cities in the North of England.

When we first started looking at Leeds as a potential place to set up, we couldn’t believe that despite being known as ‘The Leeds Brewery’, no one at Tetley’s had thought to copyright that name. We thought we would step in and take the chance to create a good brand that takes pride in being associated with the city.”

Leeds Brewery is well on its way to becoming one of stars of the booming micro brewery scene. And soon enough they may be the only brewery left in the centre of Leeds, with the impending closure of the Tetley’s plant barely a mile away. Leeds Brewery’s physical size is dwarfed by the colossus of the beer giant, but there’s time for LB yet. The light industrial estate location might not scream authentic micro brewery, but Leeds modern brewing set up and quality ales more than make up for that.

The speed at which Leeds Brewery has established itself and its beers in Leeds and across Yorkshire is a sure sign of Sam and Michael’s determination to make their venture work. By creating a strong base of pubs and brewery, coupled with an understanding of how to create a modern brand in a rapidly-changing landscape, it is exciting to consider how far such a young brewery might go.

“One of the questions we had been ready to pose was one that was born from conflicting rumours we had heard circulating the local area, about the future of Midnight Bell – LB’s dark mild offering – as a bottled product.
Sam sadly confirmed that Midnight Bell wouldn’t be available in bottles any longer, but the good news is that it will be replaced by the more marketable on-trade bottles of Leodis (their premium lager) and Hell Fire (a fruity beer) the latter two both available in the 330ml sizes.”

St. Lupulin clearly blessed this beer with an amazing hop and malt character

This beer – brewed by Odell Brewing Company is one of the most balanced pale ales – even just ales – that I’ve had for a long time.

And it comes with a little story behind the name too, a title which more than hints at it’s wonderful character (you’ll also notice the hint in the Latin name for the hop plant, Humulus lupulus).

Lupulin glands are the bits of hop leaves that contain the oils that impact hop flavour or hop aroma, and those glands are certainly put to masterful use in this beer.

And it tastes absolutely fantastic!

Despite being hoppy this isn’t overpowering, and it has a character that most beers can only pine for, with much more flavour than the summer ales that have been around in abundance over last few months. It tastes a little earthy, very fresh and sweet at times.

Already straight into my list of top beers (a list as changeable as a British summertime), a beer with instant class and a lingering impact.

I’ll be honest, despite being mid-May, there is very little summertime feel in the Leeds air. This may have been the overarching appeal of ’summer pale’ as it shone amongst the pumps at the excellent Victoria Commercial Hotel.

And the colour of the ale certainly shines; a nice clear blonde is probably one of the palest of beers I’ve ever seen, and would certainly appeal as a summer evening beverage.

A fairly sweet aroma complements the name again, and once in the mouth, a light carbonisation tickles the tongue.

The body of the beer remains light throughout, although the aftertaste is something of a bitter surprise, leaving the back of the throat feeling warm and content, much like the evening sun on an august evening.

Breweries often pride themselves on finding a fitting name to give an expectation of their ales. The folk at Barnsley’s excellent Acorn Brewery have done it again, with this terrific seasonal brew that knows it’s place on the calendar and achieves it’s purpose well.

Acorn Summer Pale

Leeds Brewery – Leeds Pale Ale

I am sitting in The Grove Inn, Holbeck, following Leeds’ exit from the play-offs. The amount of pale Leeds fans around me makes this the opportune time to review Leeds Pale Ale.

The football team lacked intensity for much of the night and I suspect that most die hard pale ale fans would argue that this beer has the same problem. From my point of view what this beer does have is the smoothness of an in touch Arsenal team. With a reasonably subtle but lingering flavour this beer goes down really well which is just the ticket for getting your depressed Leeds supporting housemate shedded.

We’re off for a major sess and, if you fancy one on the IPA, this could be just the ticket.

A treasure of a traditional pub located right underneath Bridgewater Place

3.8% abv

Brewery: Leeds Brewery

Being a huge IPA/pale ale fan along the lines of East Coast US pale ales, I often find myself disappointed with our own competition here in the UK.

Meantime have certainly bucked the trend with their London Pale Ale, a fantastic ale that matches any American pale ale for depth of character, whilst being distinctively British on the palette.

I can inadequately describe this as a best of both worlds (a phrase that doesn’t by any means do this beer justice) for those who love both modern IPAs and also more traditional British ales. And for those who, like me, rarely stray from the extravagant US pale bottles, Meantime’s London Pale Ale has enough character to tempt your tastebuds back across the Atlantic.

Cynics might call this ‘middle of the road’ but that couldn’t be further from the truth. This is a pale ale that doesn’t shirk from the challenge that younger, modern breweries are posing to the beer world, but rather embraces both the needs of a 21st century marketplace and the tradition of long established brewing techniques.

Served cold this is a thoroughly enjoyable beer with the heart of pale ale and the soul of British brewing.

Meantime London Pale Ale