By James Atkinson
Coopers has modified its Celebration Ale to make it more hoppy and aromatic since its launch last year, brewer Jon Meneses revealed, as the company confirmed the beer will stay on as a permanent fixture in its range.
Menses told TheShout that it was always Coopers' intention to make the Celebration Ale a "hoppier style of beer with a decent level of bitterness".
But the hops turned out more subdued than Meneses intended in the initial batches of the beer, which was first released last May.
"The first few brews we had Pride of Ringwood hops being added in the kettle for base bitterness and Centennial and Nelson Sauvin added in the whirlpool for late hopping but have since added all three hop varieties in the whirlpool," Meneses said.
"Also for better extraction of the aroma and bitterness we have extended the stand time in the whirlpool slightly longer and lowered the fermentation temperature a couple of degrees to prevent loss of volatiles, which has now resulted in a more hoppy and aromatic beer."
Meneses said Coopers did the slight refinements from the initial brews to achieve the flavour profile it originally intended.
"Of course, we continue to fine tune to accommodate seasonal variations in raw materials, especially hop varieties used for this brew. It is an ongoing process to achieve perfection!" he said.
Coopers managing director Dr Tim Cooper (pictured left with chairman Glenn Cooper) told TheShout there have now been 15 batches of Celebration Ale, which is set to stay on as a permanent beer after selling more than 100,000 cases since its launch.
Announcing the decision to keep the beer, Coopers national marketing director, Cam Pearce said the Celebration Ale was the number one new product development in packaged beer by value for the quarter ending October 2012, according to Nielsen data.
"Celebration Ale is a good example of a premium craft beer and fits well alongside the traditional range of Coopers beers," Pearce said.
"It's also the first beer to be packaged under the Thomas Cooper Selection range of beers, which we expect will become an increasingly important range for us in the future."