Extra is returning as our autumnal seasonal. An uncompromisingly hoppy Extra Special Bitter from the historic Adnams brewing books, it is remembered for winning the Champion Beer of Britain, as well as its intense English hop character and a thirst-quenching finish.
But where do you start when you have new brewhouse and ingredients change year-on-year? Our Head Brewer Dan has scoured the records, spoken to enthusiasts, and even sought out past brewers to try gain a little extra insight into what made it so special.
"One of the greatest privileges as a head brewer is knowing you are a steward, a custodian of something much greater than yourself, while being equally responsible for nurturing heritage. During your tenure you need to rid yourself of your own ego in the name of the collective, to preserve the quintessence of a beer.
There is a paradox that often gets talked about within the industry known as the Ship of Theseus – a common thought experiment that argues whether an object (in this case a ship) is the same object having had its original parts changed. For beers that are brewed continuously, the marking of time is relatively gradual - the deck replaced slowly, exactly like the old one.
Extra hasn’t been handed down in the traditional way, as its preservation has been partially interrupted. This beer was at its height back in 1993 when I was six years old and it has rarely been brewed since. Instead, we’re lucky enough to have it immortalised by its drinkers, who themselves act as stewards and gatekeepers – it’s still alive and fermenting in the minds of those who wish to eulogise.
The brewery is now very different to the one that originally brewed it. The swap from whole hops to pellets changed our brewing process from hop back to whirlpool in the mid to late 90s. The fermentation tanks were changed in the early noughties and finally the brewhouse in 2007. If by some miracle I could get all that kit back together just for a day, the ship’s crew have all disembarked.
Even raw ingredients change by their very nature, never producing a carbon copy. Okay, maybe our yeast is the same, but even though I inherited a dual strained culture that’s genomically the same, Dolly the Sheep illustrated the impact of the womb. So, what is it exactly that we are bringing back - an idea or a particular flavour? Maybe Extra was fleeting, like dust in the wind. I had to accept that this would not be the exact same ship – at least not physically. Enter the metaphorical…
The archives presented a tangible peek at the past, but I was also going to have to speak to the people who knew this beer and reverse engineer it, or I would be distracted by odes to the Fuggle. In fact, on the occasions I snore, I graciously whisper “Fuggle” into the midnight air. Synonymous with British bitter, it is a stalwart of British hop growing. Plagued by wilt and adored by brewers, it is still a big part of our brewery today. I’m grateful that farmers and growers approached record-keeping almost ceremonially back then, as hidden in one of those records was the name ‘Redsell,’ which just so happens to be the same Kent grower we’ve selected for this year’s Fuggles.
One of my favourite eulogies to Extra comes from Mark Dorber, at The Anchor in Walberswick. “A basket full of resinous flavours, it was punchy, it was bold, it was delicious.” Outside of the archives, Mark creates a perfect narrative, of why this beer was so special to so many people. I feared I was opening Pandoras box.
Mike Powell-Evans served as Head Brewer for Adnams for a long time, finally retiring around the completion of the new the brewhouse. He was succeeded by Fergus Fitzegerald, now Operations Director. Mike remembers Extra well, and all three of us shared a beer earlier this year at The Five Bells in Wrentham. He once described beer as an orchestra, and Fuggles as adding certain notes to the symphony. The secret to Extra, in his own words was: “Absolute quality Fuggles.”
Mike was technically prestigious, but Extra’s legend began before him - or at least, with David Waller, who was Head Brewer during its glory years. With some help I tracked him down to a remote part of Scotland. Listening to him talk about the brewery and the beer, his career was nothing short of incredible. Having also been born in Norwich, there was a shared tribe and kinship. When we talked about Extra, David - being totally humble, declared that he could not take credit and that Tony Webb was the mastermind. Tony was the previous Head Brewer, and he had decided to hold back 50% of the hops in the kettle and wait for it… hold 50% of the hops to the hop back! David described this as ‘dry hopping.’
I was desperate for this blog not to be filled with brewing glossary terms that deserve to be archived themselves, but on this journey, I found myself thinking about innovation and the craft beer revolution. To explain, I do need to give a brief overview of hops and their use.
Hops are dioecious -the plants are male or female, and the female flowers have real value in brewing as they contain an abundance of resins and oils. The soft resin fraction holds the bitterness and the oils countless different flavours. The bitterness needs to be boiled, to make it dissolve easier, but much of the oil is boiled off. However, if you add your hops late in the process, it not only reduces the bitterness, but also increasingly saves those aromatic compounds.
I previously mentioned that when Extra was originally brewed, Adnams had a hop back and was therefore using whole hops. The sugary liquid we make from malt is called wort and it’s packed with all the flavour and elements needed for yeast fermentation. It would be transferred through the hop back – a device used to infuse the hot wort with hop flavour before it is cooled and sent to fermentation. To brewers today, it sounds obvious to add extra hops after the boiling has stopped, to preserve as much flavour as possible, but back in the day it just wasn’t quite like that, or at least not entirely. Hops were added late, but it would be in the boil. For brewers like Tony and David to hold back half would have been revolutionary.
With Mike’s assessment of the quality of the Fuggle we selected, to tweaking the process and moving 50% of our hops to the hop back, Adnams revolutionised its own beer independently. Maybe our ideas weren’t that radical - merely an inevitable result of creative reasoning, but it is still important to celebrate people, ideas, and those who make that first step into a brave new world. My search for Extra confirmed that we’re all standing on the shoulders of giants.
Extra, Adnams Extra Special Bitter, is available on cask at the bar this autumn. And for the first time in its history, it will be leaving the brewery in a format you can enjoy at home, with the limited release of Extra in 440ml cans.
Good luck with your own search for Extra.