In April 2021 we celebrated our 5th birthday as a brewery. After a challenging 2020 (during which we didn’t get the chance to celebrate our 4th birthday at all!) we wanted to pull out all the stops for our 5th year of Brew York with an epic quintet of imperial stouts.
We’ve come a long way as a brewery these past 5 years, through various production and team expansions. Most recently we moved our main production to Handley Park in Osbaldwick, York, whilst our Walmgate city centre site transitions to smaller-batch and barrel-aged beer production. Amongst all of this exciting change one thing has remained, our love for flavour-packed and creative imperial stouts, of which all 5 beers in this range are.
All 5 beers in The Freaky Franchise Series are a progression of ABVs as a direct nod to not only our 5 years of brewing, but each chapter of the story we’ve written to follow through each beer. The Series has been inspired by ‘golden age’ and post-modern horror and slasher movies, which we’re a fan of at Brew York, and sees our heroine on each beer label battle through a day and night of escaping torment from our various infamous villains.
As all 5 beers in the series are imperial stouts, it was important we collaborated with breweries known for their great stout-making abilities. Collaborating with Amunsden, Naparbier, Fierce Beer, Tiny Rebel and Emperor’s Brewery is a celebration of ideas about what should go into each brew for an impactful and indulgent dark beer, as well as introducing you to some awesome breweries you might not previously be familiar with! So, let’s introduce each beer:
A New Beginning: 11% Coffee, Blueberry, Cacao, Walnut & Vanilla Imperial Breakfast Stout
The first in our quintet of 5th birthday beers is A New Beginning, brewed in collaboration with Norwegian Amundsen Bryggeri. A combination of malts, but in particular Chocolate, Black Malt and Special B, along with infusions of coffee and cacao post-fermentation brings intense freshly roasted coffee bean notes on the nose and first sip. Subtle notes of blueberry and dark dried fruit run throughout before mellowing to a soft vanilla finish. A New Beginning gives our heroine the caffeine fix she’ll need for the day…
The Revenge: 12% Maple & Pecan Imperial Milk Stout
The second in the series is The Revenge, brewed in collaboration with Spanish-based Naparbier whose creative approach to experimental imperial stouts is what drew us to them for this collaboration. Unlike our heroine, you can leisurely wade through the sticky indulgence of the maple and caramel notes, with subtle nutty notes of pecan throughout adding to the syrupy richness. A bitter dark chocolate backbone balances the sweetness perfectly.
The Ghost Dimension: 13% Mexican Mole Imperial Stout
The third release is The Ghost Dimension, brewed in collaboration with Fierce Beer. Based in Aberdeen, Fierce’s dedication to their imperial stouts has us eagerly seeking out their bar at every beer festival they attend for their latest big and dark offering. As well as being great beery friends of ours! Moles are classic Mexican sauces originating from pre-Hispanic times and although there is no one true mole recipe there is something that remains true for all moles: they represent a moment in time. Therefore the addition of our homemade mole sauce honours our 5th birthday celebration. The four different chillies bring a fiery warmth to the beer that lifts the imperial stout base, with the additional spices adding a deep richness and subtle sweetness.
The Dream Child: 14% Rocky Roads Ice Cream Pastry Stout
The fourth release in the quintet is The Dream Child, brewed in collaboration with Tiny Rebel. Based in Newport, Wales, we love seeing the latest creative variation on their legendary Stay Puft, Marshmallow Porter, range which we’ve been inspired by for this brew. With a dream-like combination of smooth caramel and luxurious chocolate this imperial pastry stout is a decadent delight. Subtle burnt sugar bitterness from the honeycomb reigns the sweetness back in whilst vanilla rounds off the palate with marshmallow undertones.
The Final Chapter: 15% Honeycomb, Coconut, Cacao, Tonka & Vanilla Imperial Milk Stout
The fifth and final release of The Freaky Franchise Series is The Final Chapter, brewed in collaboration with Emperor’s Brewery. Based in Coalville, Leicestershire, Emperor’s Brewery is run solely by Damian from his home. However, he’s also producing some of the best rated imperial stouts on Untappd in the world (or galaxy!). The Final Chapter is our biggest ever take on Tonkoko, a beer know for its intense coconut, cacao, Tonka and vanilla notes, it’s seen many iterations and developments over our 5 years.
Pre-order for these 5 beers will be live on our web shop from Monday 26th April, 9:30am. Our Drinking Outside The Box subscribers are getting an exclusive head-start on pre-order, so if you’re a subscriber make sure you check your inbox for information on how to pre-order this weekend! Delivery will begin in the next couple of weeks, you will receive an email once your order is ready to be shipped. Please note, if you order any other beers or products from our web shop in the same order as your Freaky Franchise Series pre-order these will be shipped all together.
The Freaky Franchise Series beers are only available to pre-order as the whole set, with opportunity to purchase the beers individually coming at a later date in May.
Bottle shops, bars and pubs if you’re reading this and would like to order these beers for trade, please get in contact with our sales team on sales@brewyork.co.uk.
We’ll have more news on when these beers will be on general sale soon if you don’t want to pre-order, so keep an eye on our social media or sign up to our newsletter here.
Don’t forget to tag us in your own pictures of the beers once they’re with you, and using the hashtag #brewyorktffs
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