A storm is brewing in the shallows of Southwold’s Sole Bay, heralding the arrival of something unreal - Double Ghost IPA. Packed full of thunderous flavour, it’s Ghost Ship unleashed.
The latest addition to our Ghost Ship fleet, and shipmate to Ghost Ship 4.5% Pale Ale and Ghost Ship 0.5% Pale Ale, Double Ghost is a 5.2% IPA and a reckoning for your taste buds. It’s a thrilling evolution for lovers of punchy India Pale Ales, as well as brand’s loyal crew, who will be excited to learn that the legend continues.
Our thunderous, new IPA is double dry hopped, having two sets of dry hopping at different points in the fermentation process. As fans might expect, Citra hops (the lifeblood of Ghost Ship), are the main contributor, but Centennial and Chinook are also used in support, alongside some UK Pilgrim for bittering. The additional hops not only create complexity in this expression, but they also add further nuance to its flavour, as our head brewer, Dan, explains:
“Upfront, there is a massive splash of pine and Ghost Ship’s characteristic spiciness from the use of rye and Adnams house yeast. The palate opens up into mango, guava and pineapple and some of the Citra character starts to shine, adding orange and red berries. Overall, it’s well-balanced with a pleasant bitterness, and our local barley produces good body which carries all those hops.”
When we launched Ghost Ship 0.5% Pale Ale, our brewers faced the challenge of crafting a low-alcohol beer that tasted like a well-known and well-loved product. Here, they were given the opportunity to imagine Ghost Ship unbound, and our Head Brewer, Dan Gooderham, wasn’t fazed by the challenge:
“It's been an ambition to do a further iteration of Ghost Ship. The Citra hop really has not only transformed the brewing landscape, but the Adnams brewery itself. To further explore this hop in an IPA and try to coax different nuances out of the ingredients, while staying true to the original is always a dream for a brewer.
“We are extremely pleased how it turned out. It has expressed a lot more mango than we expected and has both a pineapple and an orange note on the palate. You’ll find the characteristic spiciness from the rye on the finish and there’s good weight to the body and mouthfeel.”
Adnams Head of Sales, Max Bond is equally pleased: “We believed there was space in our range to accommodate an IPA with this strength of character and the fact that it could also complement the existing Ghost Ship family was an exciting bonus. So far, the trade has embraced its potential. The brand’s story already resonates with our customers, and we can’t wait to see what they think.”
A new tale in the Ghost Ship anthology, Double Ghost IPA is inspired by the ghost stories surrounding the ships lost to storms on the shoals and sandbanks off Southwold. Southwold’s coast isn’t rocky, but this notorious stretch of the Sole Bay becomes increasingly dangerous when there’s a storm. Its shifting sands are the resting place of hundreds of shipwrecks and unsurprisingly the source of many a ghost story.
Here, restless souls linger and in its painting by artist, Vanessa Sorboen, the infamous ship is seen surging through the North Sea, surrounded by flashes of lightning. It’s all rather reflective of Double Ghost’s flavour, with a surge of tropical fruit, flashes of pine and white grape and a tingling crack of rye spice that can linger around.
Double Ghost IPA is available online from Adnams and in our stores, in 500ml bottles. It will also be available on cask as a special limited release to support the brand’s launch through our pubs. Bottles of Double Ghost IPA will be available to buy in the supermarkets, they will begin to materialise in selected stores across the UK during the month of October.