Stroud Brewery’s in collaboration with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage team is bringing back Stinger, this seasonal spring ale – made with a zingy organic ingredient.
Bringing a historic botanical note to its tasty organic beer, Stinger is a 4.2 per cent ABV traditional pale ale infused with stinging nettles, harvested by the Stroud Brewery team from Slad Farm.
Nettles used to be a common ingredient in beer before hops were introduced to Britain in 1400 AD. Brewers would make a mix of bitter herbs, flowers and roots, called gruit, to flavour their ales, with sage, dandelion, burdock, mugwort, yarrow and stinging nettles often featuring.
Paying homage to this bygone tradition, Stroud Brewery & Taproom founder Greg Pilley and his team headed out in search of nettles to add to their brew, collecting 40 kilograms of fresh, organic young nettle leaves to create this special, seasonal beer.
Responsibly farmed beer supports wildlife on farms, captures carbon back into our soils.