We’re having a field day! We’ve brewed a landbier in collaboration with our friends at Five Points Brewing Company, as city meets coast across Distant Fields. Although Adnams is based by the sea and Five Points is a little more urban, we are connected by a mutual love of the land and pride in our common ingredients.
A genuinely communal brew, the title landbier has come to represent a line of beer from German breweries that celebrate locality and culture. The literal translation means ‘country beer,’ and the thinking behind brewing one, was to celebrate harvesttime, our local ingredients and our coming together to find common ground.
Five Points is an independent brewery from Hackney, London, brewing with a commitment to quality and the community since 2013. They champion flavour and provenance and their beers are inspired by their founders’ passion for both British real ale tradition and the best of the international craft beer movement, making them the perfect partners for this project.
We both try to use English ingredients whenever we can, so we brewed with a broad range of malts, all English hops and a special yeast to bring everything together.
“Part of the inspiration was our locality - the provenance of being in the mecca for malting grade barley (really in the world), said Dan, our head brewer. “Plus, we’ve got a very local roaster in Simpsons Malt.”
“We’re using some Extra-Dark Crystal, a bit of Double-Roasted Crystal and some Vienna in the brew, added Greg, co-founder and director of brewing at Five Points. “This will add a lovely colour and really nice, bready flavours, as well as a bit of sweetness.”
To that base we’ve added a variety of English hops, as Five Point’s head brewer, Max explains: “We brought some Bullion hops from Hukins, our friends in Kent, for their hedgerow and blackcurranty flavours. On top of that we’ve put in some Admiral for citrussy notes and to work with any spiciness as well.”
“And a tiny bit of lemon thyme was used in the kettle to bring some complexity, interjected Dan. “But not too much,” countered Greg. “Just a touch in the background.”
Max hails from Switzerland, so we’ve fermented everything with a Swiss lager yeast, called Après Ski. “It will help the malts and the hops to work together - It should be very refreshing,” confirmed Max.
“It sounds like it will be synergistic, and I can’t wait to try it. There will be initial toast and bready notes on the nose, followed by red berries and lemon. The taste is full and round, and those red berries and redcurrants become more pronounced. The bitterness is soft and smooth, and a touch of citrus lemon balances the spice and charred maltiness.” said Dan.
Distant Fields is available on cask and keg, and in 440ml cans. It is vegan across all formats, so a slight haze is to be expected.