In the last 5 years you may have noticed a rising trend in canned Indian Pale Ales, with the likes of Scottish brewers such as Brewdog and Innis and Gunn leading the charge. 

The awakening came about because in the UK the beer choices for consumption at home were in the main, industrial lager or bottled cask ale without much in-between. 

In Britain cask ale has been preserved and protected by Camra for over 50 years, laying down strict rules about what qualified as ‘real’ ale. 

Meanwhile in the US, with no tradition of cask ale, the brewers went about things differently. Over the last 50 years they revived long-forgotten beer styles after their own fashion using American, usually west coast hops, rich with heady, intense, bitter flavours and powerful aromas of citrus and pine resins all but unknown in Britain. They called what they were making “craft beer”.

Strongly-hopped ales, are a style formulated in the early 1800s, designed to weather the sea voyage to India for colonial consumption. This style became known as IPA – India Pale Ales. 

The result of these pale ales using intensely flavoured hops like those from the American left coast has brought about this style of beer. Loved and popularised by hipsters, with clever, energetic and creative marketing and design. The style feels very contemporary and we are delighted to have sourced a range for inclusion in our beer hampers in time for father’s day 2020. 

71 Brewing Co Ltd. is an independent brewery based in Dundee, Scotland. Since 2016, they make beer that is bold but inclusive, refreshing to the last and always packed with flavour

We have introduced two of their Blueprint Series, an evolving, seasonal line-up of progressive craft beers. One appropriately called Left Coast, a punchy 5.4% - Classic American hops are married to a rich malt backbone. Deep golden in colour with flavours of citrus, pine, tropical fruit and a bold west coast bitterness to finish.

The other called Cloud Fall, At 4.5% they call you to get your head out of the clouds, and get those clouds in your mouth with their twist on the classic American Pale Ale. Pale golden in colour with a creamy head, flavours of pine, grapefruit, citrus tropical fruit and a soft mouthfeel.

We hope we can reach an audience of beer lovers we might not have satisfied before, with our lager hampers, cider gifts, stout and bottled real ale hampers.