Skógarmaðr - Our First Ever Double Digit Imperial Stout

We're really excited to announce the release of our first ever double digit ABV beer  - Skogarmaor, a 10% Imperial Stout.

Brewing high percentage beers can be really challenging. Yeast doesn't always do what you want it to, flavours develop or fade over time and getting enough sugar into the wort in the first place all make for interesting hurdles when brewing a high percentage beer. With the help of the pilot kit these hurdles become a lot easier to leap.

This wasn't our first attempt at an imperial stout, the first effort didn't go to plan - read more about that here - Pilot Kit Update – The Driftwood Spars Brewery

We learned from our mistakes though and this time feel like we have a really solid beer.

Skógarmaðr was a norse term for somebody who was banished from their civilization, left to live in the trees with the other outlaws. Why did we use this as the name? Maybe just because it sounds cool, maybe not...

The recipe is similar to Codename Robin, just minus the Gingerbread although this time I dialled down the hops slightly to try to enhance those roastier flavours. I used 7 malts - Pale, Chocolate Wheat, Chocolate, Brown, Dark Crystal, Flaked Oats and Cara, with an addition of Lactose to the boil.

The final gravity for this beer was 1.043 which gives lots of body and hides the alcohol nicely.

The label was designed by Lee Piechowicz at Flyonfirecreative.com (@flyonfirecreative) • Instagram photos and videos

I'm gave him free reign on what the word Skógarmaðr meant and felt to him, and I'm really pleased with how it's turned out! 

Due to the high percentage of this one, and the amount of people who selected this as a Crowdfunder reward there will not be many bottles on general sale, so get in quick!