切捨御免 (Licence to Kill)

This release was especially fun because the theme was something totally unique and unexplored in any of our beers so far: mouthfeel, or more specifically the richest and smoothest mouthfeel possible. While there are many ways to accomplish this, the two newest methods we incorporated in designing this recipe were double mashing and the use of lactose.

We took the labourious step of doing two separate mashes and combining the first runnings from each (think of it like making your morning cup of coffee with the same amount of water but twice the beans&mdashrich, full bodied, and intensely flavourful!). This is also the first time we used lactose. Lactose is not fermentable by beer yeast, so whatever is added to the beer will remain in the final product, meaning that with the right balance you are left with a full sensation on the pallet without making the resulting beer feel sweet.

There is always a sense of trepidation when we set out to tackle new themes in our brews, but we are excited to share this new adventure in mouthfeel with you. Kanpai!

Naming: While the English name of this beer might sound as though it refers to a licence that a certain famous secret agent is in possession of, it is actually a translation of “Kirisute Gomen”, which was literally a licence for samurai to strike down a commoner or someone of lower rank if they had been insulted. The “gomen” refers historically to a licence but can also be an apology, while “kirisute” can literally be translated as to cut and throw away.

As mentioned above, for this beer we decided to exercise our right to cut the life of the malt short and only take the first runnings of the wort, and then do the same for another full tank’s worth of malt. We feel bad for the malt, but the mouthfeel of this beer couldn’t have been achieved another way. Sorry!

Style: Imperial Stout

Malt Bill:

Maris Otter, Oat, Munich, Crystal T50, Medium Crystal, DRC, Carafa 2, Carafa Special Type 3, Roast Barley

Hops:

Bittering: Merkur

Flavour/Aroma: Chinook, Centennial

Yeast: American Ale

ABV: 8.0%

IBU: 54

Gas Volumes: 2.2