Steel City’s latest brew is a collab (pick yourselves up off the floor…) with Ten Men Brewery from Ukraine. Ten Men’s original brewery was within a few miles of the Russian border and as such was lost very early in the invasion. They have been cuckoo/contract brewing in Lviv but are keen to build a new brewery of their own (and a ‘brew hub’ to allow others to brew, test and experiment) and to fund it have launched their ‘100 Collabs’ project, the first two brews being with Memento (Canada) and Modus (Australia). Dave and former Steel City business partner Gazza had both enjoyed Ten Men’s beers on visits to Ukraine before the invasion, especially their heavily fruited sours in the Not For Breakfast series, and so were keen both to help and to work with the brewery (they also plan to go to Ukraine for a return collab at some point!).
The beer is ‘Men of Steel’, a sour based on the traditional Ukrainian drink Uzvar (aka Kompot), a refreshing concoction made from apples, pears, cherries, plums, berries and apricots. Hopefully there will be two versions, a ‘straight’ fruited sour, and a dessert sour version with lactose and vanilla for a thicker (or thiccer if you’re a hipster) feel and a sweet & sour taste.
All profits from the brew will be go to Ten Men’s fundraiser, the cans will also have a link for further donations to this and to the more general Disasters Emergencies Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.
Looking further ahead, September marks the 15th anniversary of Steel City (the 10th anniversary celebration feels like five minutes ago not five years!), so will be marked with a small celebration at the pub where it all began, the Harlequin. The original beer Hop Manifesto will be rebrewed but for a 2024 audience, which basically means 15 grams per litre of dry hop in the tank. There will also hopefully be a 15% version as a one-off for the event.