Hoppy New Year plan for Irish brewer

Whitewater Brewing Company, the Northern Irish artisan brewery, has launched Hoppelhammer, a new speciality beer made extensively from hops.

The new beer, which has an ABV of six per cent, was named the top product at the recent Belfast Beer and Cider Festival, an event organised by the local branch of the Campaign for Real Ale.

Hoppelhammer, an Indian Pale Ale (IPA), is being supplied by Whitewater, a winner in this year's UK Great Taste Awards, initially in 500ml bottles. In addition, the artisan brewery is contributing to the development of speciality breads through a link up with one of the UK's top restaurants.

Whitewater, based at Kilkeel in county Down, in the picturesque foothills of the Mourne Mountains, is supplying chocolate malt ingredients for a new twist on artisan wheaten bread, a traditional Irish bakery product ,created by Brian McCann, executive head chef of Shu restaurant in Belfast, named in November as one of the UK's top 100 gourmet eating places.

The relationship with Shu follows the brewery's success in providing its Belfast Black Stout for wheaten bread to another leading Northern Irish restaurant.

"While supplying malt is a very small part of our business and likely to remain so, we are, of course, keen to look at other opportunities to maximise the potential of our products and expertise," says Bernard Sloan, Whitewater's founder and managing director. He has developed the company into Northern Ireland's biggest and best-known brewery.

Creating speciality beers like the new Hoppelhammer, Mr Sloan adds, will remain the company's principal business. Hoppelhammer has been developed by the brewery to meet a market trend towards beers with a definite hop flavour, he says.

"We've spotted a significant change in tastes in our market towards stronger flavoured and hoppy beers particularly at this time of year. Hoppelhammer is essentially a beer produced for the autumn and winter seasons when people want to sit back and enjoy a rich and strong flavour.

"It's the latest in the portfolio of speciality ales and beers that we are brewing for different seasons. It's currently the only beer that we've produced that's based on such a large hop content. We see it as a seasonal speciality because consumers tend to favour lighter beers such as our successful Copperhead (ABV 3.6%) in spring and summer.

"What is enabling us to respond quickly and flexibly to market trends is the extensive investment that we've made in production equipment and chilled storage facilities," he adds.

Hoppelhammer was developed by Mr Sloan, a master brewer, who also coined the brand to reflect the strength of the produced from its focus on hops.

Whitewater Brewery has collected a string of national and international awards for its ales and beers including being ranked as one of the world's top 50 beers by a high powered judging panel in the prestigious International Beer Challenge 2007. The company's portfolio of successful beers, ales and stout includes ethnic products such as Belfast Black Stout, Clotworthy Dobbin Ale, Copperhead Beer and Belfast Ale.

The company supplies its beers and ales to major retailers, restaurants and bars in Britain, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.