Simple Things Fermentations (x Deanston Bakery) Cinnamon Bun Brown

We collaborated with a local bakery, Deanston Bakery, run by Yuriy, a Ukranian guy. The cinnamon buns are what the shop’s best known for, the whole place permanently smells of cinnamon, as does the area outside the shop. The buns are, obviously, incredible and have semi-legendary status in the Southside of Glasgow. So we thought we’d look to create a beer that reflected this local triumph in some way.

As you know we’re not a pastry stout, chuck-buns-in-the-kettle sort of a brewery so rather than taking the dark, high-ABV approach we’ve gone for a Brown Ale at 4.8%. We used a Belgian-style Brown Ale grist (a la Leffe Brun) and fermented with an estery English Ale yeast, so there’s a soft, chewy roundedness, low bitterness and ‘bun-iness’ courtesy of a generous helping of Munich. No banana, but there’s an element of fruit in the background. The key thing was to source the cinnamon from the same supplier as Yuriy, who happened to be just round the corner from the brewery. Supermarket cinnamon doesn’t smell of much… this cinnamon smells exactly like Deanston Bakery! And we put plenty in, first as powder in the boil then in whole stick form in the conditioning tank. It’s got that usual cinnamon thing that makes you think of Christmas and cakes, but it comes with an extra sweetness… dried fruit, maybe a hint of citrus… it all goes really nicely with - rather than overwhelming - the Brown Ale.

440ml can, 4.8% ABV