8:24am Friday 19th March 2010
By Liam Sloan
A GROVE brewer succeeded in his attempt to create the world’s bitterest beer.
Laboratory reports commissioned by 58-year-old Peter Fowler, who runs the Pitstop Brewery, showed his eight per cent beer The Hop was more bitter than any other known beer in the world.
He toasted his success at his local, the Royal Oak, in Wantage, where the beer has gone on sale, although he still awaits official confirmation of the world’s bitterest beer from Guinness World Records.
Mr Fowler took on the challenge after a beer tasting with friend Nick Gould, 52.
As the pair supped a particularly bitter beer, Mr Gould challenged the brewer to make something hoppier.
A year and three attempts to break the world record later, two independent laboratories in Sunderland and Kalamazoo, Michigan, have confirmed The Hop to be more bitter than any other beer on sale.
Mr Fowler used powerful hop varieties Simcoe, Centennial and Chinook, and added hop extract Isolone, to produce the extreme bitterness.
American laboratory Kalsec heated a sample under a pressure of 200 atmospheres to measure the levels of alpha acids, which are released when hops are boiled to give the bitter flavour.
Its bitterness was measured at 323 International BIttering Units (IBUs). The highest previously recorded was about 200, for an American beer Devil Dance Triple IPA.
Mr Fowler, who has been brewing since 1975 and opened Pitstop Brewery two years ago, said: “It is always nice to beat the Americans and put a British flag on the bitterest pint. The US is producing some excellent and different beers. Most British brewers, with some exceptions, stick with the same old stuff — 4.1 per cent or thereabouts with a bit of hops. I don’t want to be like that. I want to be able to make any beer as a challenge.”
He added: “Anyone with the right technology and the will to do it can beat this.
“I have no doubt that once this is ratified, some US brewer will have a try to beat me, but I'm already ready with my riposte.”
He admitted: “To be honest, I can only drink it in halves. To finish an evening, it is fine, but the taste lasts with me for four hours at a time.”
Mr Gould said: “I don’t think there is a concept as too hoppy. But there is still room to improve —Peter hasn’t upset every customer in the pub yet. I think he’ll only be happy when the last punter won’t drink it.”
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