Adnams launches its first Craft Lager

Adnams has launched its first ever craft lager — Dry Hopped Lager — as an addition to its Jack Brand beer range.

Brewed with Pilsner malt, this authentic lager is dry hopped with Australian Galaxy hops to create big, bold flavours. It’s then ‘lagered’ (cold-conditioned) to produce a full, well-rounded flavour . This golden lager is light, crisp and refreshing with subtle malty flavours and a hoppy aroma of tropical fruits, citrus and passion fruit.

Adnams Jack Brand Dry Hopped Lager

The Jack Brand craft beer re was introduced in April with Innovation, closely followed by Clump Sagin and Rye IPA, in June.

Adnams sales director, Max Bond, said: “Our Jack Brand beers have made a great start and we are hugely excited about the addition to the range of a distinctive, flavoursome lager. Fergus [Fitzgerald, head brewer] has created the beer combining traditional lager methods with modern hop flavours. There has been a growing amount of interest and customer demand for craft beers and lagers and Jack Brand Dry Hopped Lager presents a great opportunity for our pub and free-trade customers.

“For our first true lager we were keen to make a beer that had the appearance that everyone is familiar with, but with the twist of more fruit driven hops. We did several trials on our pilot brew kit to try to get the right balance and eventually settled on this recipe.

“We’ve brewed it with Pilsner malt and added a touch of Vienna malt for a few more grain notes. We used Sterling and Amarillo hops to add a slight citrus tone to the beer. We brought in the lager yeast and fermented it at 13 degrees C which, in comparison to our normal ale fermentations, meant for a long fermentation, but it helped to keep the influence of the other flavours of the yeast really low.

“We fermented it drier than we would do for most beers and once finished we added some more hops, this time some Galaxy from Australia to give slight mango and passion fruit notes, and then stored the beer cold.”

Adnams Jack Brand beers are available in 30 litre kegs and 330ml bottles. The range gives Adnams an opportunity to introduce new flavours, with the possibility for small runs and limited editions. The design is inspired from one of the old bottles found in Adnams’ museum. In essence, says the brewer, Jack Brand beers give a firm nod to many years of Adnams’ brewing heritage at the same time as introducing modern designs and flavours.