Sting and Cure IPA's rolling out this week

The idea of taking an invasive farm weed and using it to flavor a beer is one that has interested us for a while. Anyone who has tried our spring seasonal Dandelion IPA can attest to the unique aspects that unconventional bittering agents can bring to an IPA.

Very much in the same vein of our dandelion beer, we wanted to brew a beer bittered with fresh nettles. If you're familiar with nettles, it's probably because you've been stung by them. That's their most commonly known characteristic, but a lesser known tidbit is that they are related closely to hops and were formerly used as an ingredient in English beers (Thanks, by the way, to The Homebrewer's Garden as the inspiration for many of our unique ingredient choices and their interesting origin stories).

We struggled with the nettle concept for a while, and now we've came up with an angle that excites us: Our idea is to brew two beers, two big IPA's - one with nettles, one with mint - that we can mix together at the tap to complement each other and create something new, something that is more than the sum of its parts.

Evan told me a piece of backwoods and botanical trivia that really made this concept work: the pain of a nettle sting can be alleviated by rubbing mint on it. The two often grow close together in nature. Nature provides both the sting and the cure.

Mint as an ingredient is delicate and difficult to pull off. It evokes images of rich, dark beers: mint chocolate chip stout-type images. One does not necessarily arrive at 'IPA' quickly. American IPA's are beers known for two things however: assertive bitterness, and big aromatics.

Sting is a Burton-on-Trent English-style IPA, bitingly bitter with a minerally character. Cure is a softer, partially wheat-based American IPA with a minty aroma. The idea is that when we mix them, we end up with something better, or at least different, than either of the two base beers. You can find everything you need for the sting and the cure growing on the edges of our North Plain Road hop farm, and in many other places throughout the Berkshires. Cheers! 

- Ezra