Chicago’s Goose Island has launched its ‘Brewery Yard’ beer in the UK.

The beer, which has been limited to 2,700 bottles, is a collaboration with brewing historian Ron Pattinson.

It is a historical recreation of a 19^th century Burton brewery recipe using floor malted English pale malt, English Golding and U.S. Cluster whole hops, and aged for 11 months in oak barrels with Brettanomyces. 

The beer’s name is derived from the way the Bass Brewery in Burton-upon-Trent aged its beer, which involved stacking barrels in large piles in the brewery yard and exposing them to the elements.

This allowed the yeast in the barrel to continue a slow secondary fermentation that preserved the beer and created a unique flavour that was prized by 19^th Century beer drinkers.

Mike Siegel, brewing innovation manager at Goose Island explained: “This project started two and a half years ago, with me contacting Ron, and asking if he would be interested in a historical recipe recreation.   I wanted something that had particular meaning to Goose Island’s history of being inspired by English breweries, so an English recipe was a given.

“From there, I wanted a recipe that would have had been aged in wood barrels and contained Brettanomyces, two elements we work with quite a bit at Goose Island. Ron had the perfect beer, 19^th Century Stock Pale Ale.

“We took a year to plan it out, and another year to make it, and we’re really happy with how the beer turned out. It is truly the definition of unique, and I really hope fans of Goose Island and of brewing history will enjoy it.”

The beer, which is available from Clapton Craft, Mother Kelly’s, The Rake, The White Horse, Craft Tooting and We Brought Beer, is 8.4% and features EKG and US Cluster hops. Wyeast London Ale 1028 is the primary fermentation yeast.

Ron Pattinson, Beer Historian, added:  “Brewery Yard is a beer I’ve long dreamt of recreating; an authentic Stock Pale Ale, as brewed in Burton-on-Trent in the 19th century. It’s taken me more than five years to find a brewer prepared to take it on. But my patience has been amply rewarded.”