Thornbridge Coalition

It was a momentous day at the Riverside on Friday when Mark Tranter, head brewer at the Dark Star Brewing Co. came to visit. Not because he helped us finish scrubbing the floor, but because he joined us to celebrate the long-awaited release of Coalition, the beer he brewed with the Thornbridge team exactly 2 years ago.

Coalition is an Old Ale, which for me conjures up thoughts of a tired, slightly acetic beer served through the end handpump of a bar that no-one but the most ‘enthusiastic’ of beer drinkers consume, and then only in halves. But Coalition is such a unique tasting beer – copper-orange in colour, hints of barley sugar and caramel, a gentle but omnipresent bitterness and an astonishing depth of flavour that can only be achieved with two years of conditioning and maturation. It’s a truly excellent beer, one of which both brewing teams can be immensely proud. In Kelly’s (former brewing manager) own words, ‘I think beers like this are in some ways more unique and fascinating than big double IPAs or Impy stouts. This Old Ale was about patience and curiosity and I think it definitely paid off ‘. There isn’t a lot of it though, rumoured to be because Kelly performed so many ‘taste checks’ on the brew (completely without foundation I’m sure Kel). He described the changes to me – ‘as I tried it over the 2 years it was in maturation, it seems that as the hop faded, it seemed to get more perfumed. The flavour actually reminded me of strawberry lip balm in its character!’.