Burnt Mill x Siren

Though now head brewers at Siren and Burnt Mill Brewery respectively, Sean Knight first met Sophie de Ronde when he was brewing at Sambrookes and she was a brewing technologist at Muntons Malt. They quickly established that both liked the idea of black IPA with minimal roast notes, so with the required technology at their collective fingertips, the team at Muntons worked on a malt extract that Sophie trialled on the pilot plant, and Sean then brewed with at Sambrooks. The original recipe was a great success, and Sophie says that she and Sean “thought it would be pretty cool to revisit the recipe with a fresh, revitalised version. Black IPAs have fallen out of fashion somewhat, but we still think that it is a cracking style and a great showcase of a brewer’s skills”. 

She continues, saying that “collaborations are such a wonderful way to affirm friendships within the industry and create networks of support and learning. Over the years, we have done many collaborations and we always come away feeling like we have learned something new, either from differing techniques in the brewhouse or understanding different concepts of behind the scenes work. In the case of this collaboration in particular, Sean and I have a great mutual respect for the work that we have each produced in the past and have always had an intention to collab together at some point. This project has been a great push to bring us together in this capacity.”

On the topic of the black IPA, Siren’s marketing manager Andy Nowlan is keen to point out that “when it comes to the Black IPA style, some people think it's supposed to have minimal roast, almost so that in a blind taste you wouldn't know it was there, while some people think the whole point of the style is to get some roasty, chocolate, coffee flavours going on. We've played around with different levels but now really enjoy using the Export India Porter style to go big on the malts, and keeping the Black IPAs nice and vibrant”.