Deya Leckhampton Hill

Oak-aged mixed fermentation ale with locally foraged elderflower.

This beer has been conditioned in red wine barrels for over 12 months with a mixed culture. The result is a tart, funky and quenching ale with flavours of lemon, hay and elderflower.

Most of our mixed fermentation beers have a similar base beer, which we are calling Simple Wheat Thing. It has pilsner malt, flaked wheat and wheat malt, to create a simple beer, which has low bitterness from moderate hopping.

It was fermented with our house yeast, as well as a range of other yeast and bacteria to create soft fruit aromas and gentle acidity. It was conditioned in oak barrels for 6-9 months, and different barrels blended to refine the balance. The fermentation character is evolving but is not too dominant in the beers this year.

This creates a restrained base beer for the Elderflower to shine. We collected Elderflower local to the brewery, created a syrup, and added it to the beer at bottling. It was bottled in July 2020 and has spent the subsequent months conditioning, allowing the flavours to come together.

375ml bottle, 5.8% ABV