Indy Man Beer Con team up with local brewer for special sustainable beer release

Ahead of its more-than-welcome return this weekend, the team at Indy Man Beer Con have unveiled a collaboration with 200-year-old Middleton-based brewer, JW Lees, on a ‘beer to start conversations’ ahead of the festival.

Returning after a two-year hiatus, this year’s event aims to start a conversation about sustainability in beer. The industry is facing multiple challenges, from climate change and inflation to water shortages and demographic shifts. To combat this, IMBC and JW Lees have set about exploring how you might affordably brew great beer with a lower carbon footprint.

Hence this focus on beer brewed and drunk locally, with more locally-sourced ingredients. In planning for this year’s festival, IMBC celebrates British brewers, marking the progress made by domestic hop growers in making a beer that uses classic techniques to create something modern, exciting, and sustainable.

Matt Gorecki, Head of Beer at the festival said: “We all love American Hops and we have for years, but we can’t ignore what people like Brookhouse are doing right here on the doorstep. They’re growing some mega stuff! When we first spoke to JW Lees and heard Michael’s story about working with the same farmers and fields as his grandfather we just felt that we could bring together the best of both worlds.”

The end result is a beer named ‘Hops are Green’, an Extra Special Bitter. Typically a malt-forward brew using English yeast and firm but not over-the-top, it will be finished using freshly harvested green hops from the forward-thinking hop growers at Brookhouse.

Green or ‘Wet’ Hops are an ingredient with a lower carbon footprint due to their lack of time in an energy-intensive kiln, where hops are usually cured to preserve and intensify their flavour. They’re used in an array of seasonal beers in the US around harvest time but curiously not so much in the UK. They’re grown in Herefordshire and were transported to the brewery by road. It will preview at the festival and be available at several JW Lees pubs as well as Port Street Beer House.

This beer is the first in a series of beers produced with sustainability in mind, with Cheltenham-based industry favourite, Deya Brewery, picking up the baton to create the next product following the festival.

With only a few days left until the festivities begin, IMBC has also released a limited batch of extra tickets for each of the weekend’s sessions. Grab yours using the button below.