Wokingham Today

WHAT’S BREWING

- IN FINCHAMPST­EAD?

IT’S beginning to look a lot like C….aribbean Chocolate Cake week. That’s right folks, our annual stout release is back, and excitement is through the roof. If you’ve not heard of Caribbean Chocolate Cake, or CCC as it’s known colloquial­ly, then you’re in for a treat.

The Caribbean Chocolate Cake story began all the way back in 2013. With a collaborat­ion in mind, emails started flying between our base in

Finchampst­ead and Florida, the home of Cigar City Brewing. We were blown away by the American Brewery’s experiment­ation into the relationsh­ip between wood and beer, and not just barrel ageing. They were producing some unique and outstandin­g results and we wanted in.

Cigar City founder, Wayne Wambles, agreed to work on a recipe with us, and kindly shared some of the knowledge and experience that they had picked up over the years. The result was our most indulgent beer yet. CCC broke all the rules, racking up an ingredient­s bill that made Siren founder Darron’s eyes water. A trio of imported cacao nibs, Cypress wood spirals and brand new experiment­al hops landed at our fledgling brewery. This was a new level of ambitious brewing.

Over the years, CCC has expanded into one of our favourite projects of the year, evolving with many spin-offs, evolutions and variations.

This year, we have the return of Nitro CCC and Death by CCC. The creamy, super smooth version of the base beer was a huge hit, and we loved it. Death by, the imperial strength version, has establishe­d itself as a permanent fixture in the lineup. This year’s two special variants are Caribbean Chocolate Mole Cake - a take on Mexican Mole, using chilli for a subtle background warmth. There’s also Caribbean White Chocolate Pancake Stack - a hybrid of sorts on two former variants.

The full set is available from Friday 19th online and from the Tap Yard. We’ve also got a special online virtual tasting at 7.30 pm on November 26th, via YouTube and Facebook.

For more details on the beers, or to watch the online tasting, head to sirencraft­brew.com/ccc Cheers!

 ?? ??
 ?? ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom