beijing bitter

A crisp, light bodied summer ale with a hint of Szechuan pepper. Beijing Bitter is perfect for sinking on a warm, lazy afternoon.

I‘ve recently spent some time working out in China and although there where a few nice craft breweries around (shout out to the slow boat brewery ) I missed my real ale.

Most of the Beer in China is a bastardised version of German beer (clean and fairly straight tasting) but  without the  attention to detail. The result is bland, generic, watery lager.

It’s one saving grace was that it accompanies the oily, stodgy food exceptionally well. The German preference for ‘purity’ in their beer means you get a really crisp body that cuts straight through the greasy (and delicious) Chinese cuisine.

Beijing Bitter is my remedy to weary voyagers in need of some home comforts. A light crisp body with A bitter citrus bite. The Szechuan pepper corns don’t have any heat and add a limey hint to the grapefruit flavours you get from the Cascade Hops.

Once again I’ve made a hand stamp to share with you just how much love goes into this brew.

Here’s my recipe for 40 Pints ;

Brupack pale malt extract – 1.5KG
Brupack Chinook Hops (bittering) – 33g
Brupack Cascade Hops – 100g
Silver spoon Caster sugar – 1.04kg
Szechuan pepper corns – 10g
Richies Citric acid – 5g
Dr.oetker Powdered gelatine – 5g
Safale s-04 English ale yeast – 1 sachet
Around 23 litres of London’s very finest tap water.

Boil time- 60 minutes.
Add Chinook hops at the start.
Add half the cascade hops and the roughly ground Szechuan pepper corns with 10 minutes to go
Add the other half at the end of the boil.

Hold back 40g of sugar for bottling.