The Kernel x Stigbergets | New England IPA

• Style: NEIPA
• Region: Bermondsey
• ABV: 7.0%
• Bottle Size: 330ml
  

Here at The Kernel we don’t collaborate often, and we’ve never made a New England IPA. Therefore it is as much to our surprise as yours that this beer even exists. 

This is an unfiltered New England IPA, made with Gothenburg's finest exponents of the style, our friends at Stigbergets. Earlier this year Jess made it over to Sweden to make a Victorian Porter at their brewery, and this is the return leg. We felt if they were out of their comfort zone with a beer style we love, we should at least return the favour. 

Maris Otter, wheat and oats make up the body of the beer, a substantial portion of both of the latter giving body, heft and haze. We used a version of Stigbergets' house yeast blend, various strains from London and Yorkshire via Vermont, which add a rich stone fruit character that plays beautifully with the hops (Citra, Mosaic, Simoce and Galaxy), giving them an underlying scaffolding and support.

The hops come through quite saturated on the nose, initially quite bright citrus and pineapple, then slowly dispersing into apricot, oranges, jam, guava. The texture is full and round, accentuated by the oats and wheat, sweet with a touch of alcohol, and juice and fruit. It then steps back a little, dropping in a finish just a touch drier than what has gone before, with a small hit of bitterness that’s barely perceptible but is essential to hold things back from being cloying. Trying to hit that point of being sweet while still refreshing, full without being satiating.