Time Hops Festival returns to Siren Craft Brew Co
Reading’s Siren Craft Brew Tap Yard welcomes the second installment of its Time Hops Festival this weekend, with the event aptly named Time Hops II. db finds out more about what to expect.
The event follows the original Time Hops Festival which was hosted by the team at Siren Craft Brew back in 2022. The inaugural festival showcased a predominantly American influence with breweries such as Sierra Nevada and The Alchemist pouring beers.
Garage Project, Mountain Culture, Jarosovský Pivovar, Fort George
This year, Time Hops II will be leaning on the new concept of Around The World. To support the theme, Siren Craft Brew Co has teamed up with New Zealand’s Garage Project, Australia’s Mountain Culture, the 16th century Czech brewery Jarosovský Pivovar and US brewery Fort George to produce four new beers.
Speaking to the drinks business, Siren Craft Brew Co founder Darron Anley said: “Fans of craft beer have come to see many new hops released every year – so we wanted to shine a light on the original hops that laid the foundation of the craft beer scene, and tell the stories about the breweries that made them famous.”
Describing what makes the event interesting, and why Siren is working with the breweries it has chosen, Anley explained that there are some breweries where certain bop varieties feel synonymous to them. Anley mused: “Like Sierra Nevada, who we’re fortunate to have visiting us for Time Hops II.”
In Anley’s view Sierra Nevada has “built an iconic beer around those hops and a counter-culture at the same time”. He added: “The Cascade hop is Sierra Nevada, and Sierra Nevada is Cascade.”
Anley told db: “With the newer hops, that’s not really been the case so much, except perhaps for Nelson Sauvin, which has hit icon status. Of the new beers, they’re all obviously very good, but the Strata Hazy IPA brewed with Fort George should be especially stunning.”
Each of the beers will have their first pours at the Time Hops II Festival at the Siren Craft Brew Tap Yard, with tickets on sale now.
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The Kernel, Sierra Nevada, Cloudwater, Two Flints
The festival will take place from 12pm to 7pm at the Siren Tap Yard on Saturday 20 September. Visitors can expect more than 40 lines of beer from Siren along with guest breweries including: The Kernel (London), Sierra Nevada (US), Cloudwater (Manchester) and Two Flints (Windsor), along with street food, DJs and a selection of wines, ciders, soft drinks and live music.
Killa Waffles, Rebel Soul, Fink
Time Hops II Festival will take place in Siren Tap Yard based in the Hogwood Industrial Estate in Finchampstead. Street food will be available from Killa Waffles, Rebel Soul, Fink and more.
The venue will provide plenty of outdoors and heated undercover seating as well as space for car parking as well as being nearby local bus routes. The ticket price includes access to the festival, glassware, a brochure and access to talks and tastings as well as the first Siren drink free. There will also be exclusive Time Hops merchandise available to buy at the event. The Time Hops II beers available are listed below.
Brewery: Garage Project
Name: Time Hops: Nelson Sauvin DIPA
Style: DIPA
ABV: 8%
Siren’s description: “Nelson Sauvin is a unique hop, named for its similarity in profile to Sauvignon Blanc grapes. It’s also made a mark in the UK, having been a part of Punk IPA recipes for some time. It’s a fantastic hop, and we’ve paired it with a fantastic brewery – Garage Project, NZ. Pernicious Weed is a fondly remembered beer by Siren, as we brought a keg over for our Rainbow Project party in 2016 and it stole the show. It’s an iconic beer heavily linked with Nelson, it’s an honour to be brewing this slightly modernised version in the UK.”
Brewery: Moutain Culture
Name: Time Hops: Galaxy Hazy IPA
Style: Hazy IPA
ABV: 6.5%
Siren’s description: “The enigmatic hop – can be amazing, but how do brewers get the best out of it? Galaxy had a moment where it was everywhere, the darling hop of craft beer. But it’s been on a journey since then, which we’ll be digging into in our storytelling content. We’ve worked with Australian outfit Mountain Culture on this, taking advantage of the local knowledge! We’re making an IPA in their style, building the profile in the right way to show off Galaxy. Both Mountain Culture and Hop Products Australia have been fantastic in helping us bring this to life.”
Brewery: Jarosovský Pivovar
Name: Time Hops: Saaz Bohemian Pilsner
Style: Pilsner, lager
ABV: 5.1%
Siren’s description: “We started the previous Time Hops project with Cascade, this time we get to go back to the roots of hops entirely. Jarosovský Pivovar is an original Czech brewery dated back to 16th Century – sold to Heineken who shut the brand down a while ago – restarted by some locals – really focussing on local malt, local hops and traditional methods. Through this traditional Czech Pils we’ll be exploring the influence of Saaz (and Landrace hops) on beer as we know it. It’s defined a beer culture that has influenced the rest of the world.”
Brewery: Fort George
Name: Time Hops: Strata Hazy IPA
Style: Hazy IPA
ABV: 6%
Siren’s description: “Fort George is a Brewpub and production brewery based out of Astoria Portland, well known and loved. They were among the first to use Strata in the world! They also use it in a collaborative cross-state release of ‘3-Way IPA’. Strata is an example of innovation and breeding of hops to suit modern brewers. Strata is one that has established itself. Indie Hops have a great reputation for going after unique, interesting flavours from hops that will make a real impact in beers.”
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