As founder of Dark Revolution, Greg Hughes has a passion for great beer. He’s obsessed with creating this amazing product called beer, chasing flavour, while exploring both traditional styles and modern contortions. But before starting the brewery, he was an avid homebrewer in every sense of the word. Here, he shares one of his recipes – Where’s My Dog.

Greg Hughes has made the journey from being a beer fan, and avid homebrewer, to being a published author, shop owner and brewery founder. Here’s how he did it and what he learned along the way.

At his brewery Dark Revolution, they are never satisfied with being okay. Instead, their aspirations are simple. To make world class beer. Beer that we can be fiercely proud of and hopefully enjoyed by other beer enthusiasts.

Below, he shares one of his recipes. Where’s My Dog is a modern ESB brewed with a blend of six different malts to create a delicious, inviting base. They then layered Cascade and Amarillo hops to give it a modern twist and to perfectly balance the sweet malt with Orange and Citrus notes.

Where’s My Dog – Extra Special Bitter

5.2%

SG 1.051

FG 1.011

Recipe based on 25L batch.

Malt Bill

Maris Otter 87%

Torrified Wheat 4%

Simpsons DRC Double Roast 3%

Simpsons T50 Crystal 3%

Simpsons Aromatic Malt 3% 

20g Cascade 17 IBU All of boil

30g Cascade 10 IBU 15 Mins from end

50g Cascade 9 IBU at turn off

50g Amarillo 15 IBU at turn off

Mash 65c to 1 hour

Yeast 1318 London Ale III or similar

Pitch at 18c then allow to free rise to 21.5c

Water – we aimed for a chloride heavier water to emphasis the malt character so aim for around 2:1 Cl/SO4.

Equipment – As O2 isn’t such a issue with a beer of this style it’s ideal for even basic equipment setup and bottle conditioning. As there are no dry hops the beer should clear well without the need to finings.