With the great warm weather we’ve been having, I think a lot of our brains are already springing towards SUMMER! For this reason, I thought it would be fun to talk about UNH’s new, summery brewery creation!
This past March, UNH students in the university’s Brewing Science Laboratory program put together a new strawberry frappe IPA using strawberries grown as part of the N.H. Agricultural Experiment Station’s organic strawberry breeding program and strawberry season extension research. “Strawberry Milkman” is the third brew that was created thanks to the partnership between the researchers and students at the UNH Brewing Science Lab and the N.H. Agricultural Experiment Station. The new brew also includes strawberries from the TunnelBerries project, a prospective research project that aims to benefit both growers and consumers alike. New Hampshire’s strawberry season traditionally lasts only four to six weeks, during which experiment station researchers harvested strawberries grown in low tunnels for 19 consecutive weeks from mid-July through the week of Thanksgiving. They found that the low tunnels significantly increased the yield of sellable fruit, from an average of about 70% to 83%, a helpful finding for agricultural research.
Strawberry Milkman was developed by undergraduate student Tim Fischer, who says that it contains no bittering hops, but rather New Zealand aroma whirlpool and dry hops, creating more sweetness. “These sweet, cloudy IPAs are quite popular. It is made with a lot of wheat to maximize the protein content of the beer and keep it cloudy. Lactose is added as a sweetness,” states Cheryl Parker, who manages the UNH Brewing Science Lab.
Strawberry Milkman is expected to be available soon locally on-tap at Hop + Grind in Durham. You can also stay current with the newest UNH brews and releases by following the UNH Brewing Science Laboratory on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UNHbrewlab.
Beer-lovers rejoice for all of the interesting, fun new brews UNH students are introducing to the area using locally-grown ingredients, and get out one of these gorgeous days to enjoy an ice-cold Strawberry Milkman!