We’re finally coming to the end of 2020. It’s been a tough year for us all, but we’re optimistic that 2021 can only get better.

While this year has sucked, we’ve been blown away by the generosity of our fans in helping us raise funds for Drumchapel Food Bank, give our staff tips while our Brasserie is closed, and generally keeping us afloat with their patronage.

We’re incredibly happy that we’ve been able to keep putting out new and exciting beers through the course of the year. With that in mind, here’s an overview of the latest additions to our shop.

Launched in November

Dessert Menu: Sticky Toffee Pudding – 12% Belgian Quad

After the success of our first Dessert Menu beer, we asked our fans to vote on which dessert they wanted to see in beer form next. You chose Sticky Toffee Pudding and we’ve been hard at work turning this into a reality.

Our team have created a Belgian Quad, brewed with dates and muscovado sugar, with dark malts giving this beer a complex character.

The malt bill of this beer features caramel-packed Special B, Abbey malt to impart colour and a huge whack of Munich malt. To this, we added in our Abbaye yeast (traditionally used in Belgian beers) to kick off fermentation and use all of those sugars from the malt bill.

The result is a dessert in a glass and a real treat for any pudding lover!

Rancho Radler – 2.5% Rosé Lager Shandy with Pink Lemonade

We’re hugely proud of Rancho Rosa – our Rosé-wine-inspired lager. It’s a lemon and raspberry beer that really is for everyone – regardless of whether you like beer or not.

This light and refreshing beer lends itself perfectly to a shandy. We’ve mixed it up with pink lemonade to bring you all the fruity flavour, at an easily sessionable 2.5% ABV.

Bright, tart notes of lemon and raspberry are sweetened by bubbly pink lemonade. We’ve bottled this as a 500ml, so there’s plenty to share!

We’re excited to bring you more radlers in the future. The possibilities for our core range and small-batch beers to mix it up with soft drinks really are endless!

Roll With It – 6.5% Tangy Brown Ale

After a spirited discussion within our team about what constitutes the best breakfast roll, we decided that this had to be put to a wider audience. We polled the nation (or at least, the part of the nation that follows us on social media) to find out which combination of ingredients made for the perfect roll.

The winner was a crispy roll with square sausage, potato scone, and brown sauce. Our brewers created this beer to pair with the winning combination, balancing out the flavours of the roll.

This tangy brown ale plays off the roll, with deep malty notes offset with a tangy sweetness. It’s a complex enough beer to stand up to all the flavours of the roll, adding an extra tartness to the brown sauce note.

The food pairing for this one is easy, so grab a beer and your frying pan to create an unmissable beer experience.

Khimaira The Bruce – 6.3% Heller Bock

The Bruce is an experimental blend from New Zealand hop growers, Freestyle Hops. It’s named after Bruce Eggers, the original farmer from Sunrise Valley where they grow their hops. They’ve honoured Bruce with a hop blend of his own to mark his retirement and to thank him for his invaluable expertise over the years.

Adding this into our Khimaira recipe gave us a Heller Bock with aromas of fresh citrus, gooseberry, orange blossom and toasted bread. It’s super bright and fresh, working in perfectly with the existing Khimaira recipe.

We’ve also made another version of this beer with the Betty blend – which is named after Bruce’s wife who worked on the farm with him. If anything can save 2020, it’s the wholesomeness of a pair of hop blends named after two married, retired, New Zealand hop farmers.

Launched This Week

Ax Man – 5% Rye IPA

We’re constantly hearing calls to bring back Ax Man, one of our original line-up of beers. We’ve brewed up a super-limited batch of this beer just in time for Christmas; diehard Ax Man fans can think of it as our Christmas present to you.

It’s resinous, piney, citrusy, and more than a little nostalgic. It takes us back to happier, simpler, less pandemic-ridden times. The rye adds a peppery note, which balances out the pithy citrus perfectly.

The other beer that we’re constantly asked to bring back, Outaspace, just might follow in its tracks next year. If you want to grab a bottle of this one, we’d suggest you’re quick or you might miss out.

Dessert Menu: Christmas Pudding – 7.5% Brown Ale

Hot on the heels of Sticky Toffee Pudding, Dessert Menu: Christmas Pudding will be out in time for some festive cheer. Raisins and spice give this beer its holiday spirit, with citrus peel providing a lighter top note.

This brown ale is everything you want in a festive drink, without being overpoweringly sweet. With Christmas just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to savour this delicious beer. Layers of Carabelge, Chocolate Rye, and oat malt create the luxurious body of this beer.

We’re excited to release this beer and we can’t wait to hear what you think!

Khimaira Betty – 6.3% Heller Bock

The second of our pair of Khimaira beers with Freestyle Hops, Betty is another ode to the Eggers family. This blend is light and enhances the base of the beer with delicate hop notes.

These fresh New Zealand hops stand up well to the warming alcohol presence of the base recipe. It’s the same recipe as Khimaira The Bruce, but as always we’ve swapped out the hop variety, and packed them into the whirlpool and dry-hopping stages – we definitely don’t skimp on this one!

This series is all about highlighting the hops, and we’ve really enjoyed using these experimental blends.

Hazelnut Orinoco – 6% Gianduja Mocha Milk Stout

Our multi-award-winning Mocha Milk Stout lends itself well to flavour additions and we love dreaming up new twists on the classic.

This time we’ve gone with Gianduja flavouring – a hazelnut spread not entirely unlike a certain popular spread that sort of rhymes with ‘strut fella’. We daren’t say any more in case we end up infringing on copyright, but we’re sure you can work it out.

This adds a luscious layer of nutty, sweet, and creamy goodness into the existing Orinoco recipe - think hazelnut latte meets chocolate, malts, and vanilla.

Biscuit Tin: Chocolate Mallow Stout - 7.5% Chocolate Mallow Stout

Another beer inspired by some of our favourite treats, this is the first in our new Biscuit Tin series. We’re fired up for this series; as a team that loves to snack this is pretty much our idea of heaven.

First up in this series, we’re going with (but not endorsed by or affiliated with) the Tunnock’s Tea Cake. Our fans north of the border will understand just how amazing these iconic treats are!

We’ve laid down a chocolatey biscuit base for this beer, then upped the ante with a deluge of marshmallow. Lactose adds yet more thick, creamy flavour into the final brew and helps to emulate that classic treat.

In Other News

We’ve also got a couple of updates on what else we’ve been up to in the last month:

Fourteen Peaks Survival Competition

We had a lot of fun finding out what you’d take into the wilderness, stuffed into an empty beer can. There were some amazing responses from our social media fans and it was great to partner up with Summits Outdoor on the prize.

We’re hoping to do more of these competitions in future, shining the spotlight on the outdoors and beers that are inspired by nature.

Give Back Friday

We wanted to do something a bit different on Black Friday this year and Drumchapel Food Bank have been busier than ever in the current climate. We donated 10% of our proceeds on the day to the food bank, and your generosity allowed us to donate £192.93.

Christmas Shop

Finally, we also launched our Christmas Shop this month! We’ve got a load of new merch (please buy it) and mixed boxes for you to choose from. The last date for Christmas delivery is the 22nd – make sure you get your orders in before 5pm to make sure we can get your order to you in time.

We hope that you all have a lovely Christmas and your 2021 is better than 2020 (not that it would be too difficult). Thank you all for your generosity, support, and well wishes this year – we can’t wait for the day when we can welcome you back to our Brasserie.

Team Drygate xx