This week Hillstown Brewery launch a collaboration Black IPA beer with Middletown Coffee Co.

Here’s what Hillstown say about this exciting locally brewed beer collaboration;

We worked on a collaboration beer with Middletown Coffee Company in Ballymena and as we used a Kenyan coffee and we worked with a collective of local people we called it Pamoja which is swahili for collective, this beer is a very complex Black IPA, we wanted to do something different with coffee that hasn’t been done before , so we used this special coffee and utilised its beautiful flavours as a late edition during the brewing process.

The beer is brewed with the finest base malts from the Malting Company of Ireland and new Bavarian speciality malts from IREKS which haven’t been used before in the UK or Ireland, we combined these awesome ingredients with the finest hops from all around the globe. The initial taste is bitter from the hops, the aroma is beautifully fruity and floral, you taste the complex malt profile which is well rounded with hop bitterness and the complexity continues with the coffee at the end of the taste.

This Thursday 17th November will be the first opportunity for members of the public to taste a sample of the beer. Brewbot in Belfast are holding a launch night and you can get more info about that on Facebook here.

As well as the collaboration between Hillstown and Middletown, I [Ally Simpson/Supersimbo.com] designed the label for the beer.

When we heard the idea that the guys at Hillstown and Middletown had, we aimed for an African theme of sorts to match the name of the beer. After a few initial concepts we all really liked my hand drawn Zebra illustration as the main design element. We think it’s a strong brand to compliment a really great tasting beer and can’t wait for people to try it out. It’s also been a real joy to work alongside passionate local businesses on such an exciting project.

It really is great to see local businesses working together on a genuinely unique and exciting project.

If you can’t get along to Brewbot on Thursday, this locally brewed beer collaboration will be available to buy soon so, stay tuned for more information about that.