Initially set up as a microbrewery behind The Antelope pub in Surbiton, Big Smoke Brew Co. has become massively renowned since launching in 2014.
Now operating from a new brewery in Sandown Industrial Estate in Esher, Surrey, Big Smoke Brew Co.’s produce is representative of the beer that the brewery founders James Morgan and Richard Craig personally enjoy drinking, which is all flavoursome, hard-hitting and additive free. The brewery also makes a clear point of refraining from using Isinglass finings – a by-product obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish, used by many breweries to make their beers clear.
With the move to the new brewery, the award-winning craft beer brand has also embraced the canning revolution, with all of their core beers now available in cans and delivered nationwide. Using six 65 hectolitre tanks, the brewery is now capable of brewing five times the quantity of beer, equating to approximately 8,000 pints per brew, whilst a state-of-the-art canning line produces 1,600 cans per hour.
A blueberry wheat beer brewed with a touch of vanilla, Big Smoke’s Forests of Azure is a unique collaboration with The White Hag Irish Brewing Co. On pour, Forests of Azure has a deep ruby complexion, capped with a pink head. Aromas of blueberry are initially prominent on the nose, as expected, joined by some vanilla and a feint lactic note. Blueberry continues on the palate with a medium bitter, slightly sour edge: light-medium bodied with fizzy carbonation. Overall it’s an smooth, easy-drinking fruit beer with unexpected alcohol-by-volume (5.6 per cent). Blueberry continues on the dry, slightly astringent finish alongside a whisper of vanilla and clove.
Further information on Big Smoke Brew Co. can be found here.