It’s been quite the year, but can you believe that it is one year this Saturday that we released Lumina, our flagship 4.2% Session IPA? Next week, we’ll be taking a look back over the past year. We’ll also have a very special competition, asking you at home to share your favourite Lumina moments from the last year. Look out on our social media channels for that!
For now, we wanted to give a bit of the backstory to our favourite easy-drinking session IPA, as well as letting you know where to find it.
So where did Lumina spring from? For a long time, we’d seen a gap in our flagship range – something to bridge the gap between 3.6% Session Pale Ale,Yu Lu, and 5.6% IPA, Soundwave. We’d long since been brewing our 4% Hazy Pale Ale, the Suspended in… series, each batch focussing on a different hop. This easy-drinking, sessionable and surprisingly flavoursome beer always proved (and continues to do so!) popular in pubs and bars.
This proved a good base, and a good starting point for a lower ABV, crushable pale. We started off with a keg only release of a beer we called ‘Refractions’, to gauge public reaction. With great feedback on board, Refractions moved its way into cans, and underwent 3 or 4 different rebrews, as the team experimented with hop line ups. All the while, we were carefully monitoring public reaction, as well as running our own taste trials.
We settled on an all-star, stellar lineup of Hallertau Blanc, Mosaic, Chinook, Azacca and Ekuanot hops. Azacca is a hop we love, known for its bit tropical flavour, backing up the famous fruit highlights of mosaic and the chinook, which rounds out with some resinous notes. The Hallertau Blanc is a unique hop, adding some subtle white grape and floral aspects; it’s not a one-dimensional hop and helps take this beer into the stratosphere.
So where can you find Lumina locally? Of course, it’s always available on our webshop for next day delivery, or at the Siren Tap Yard in Finchampstead – sirencraftbrew.com/tapyard
However, you can always find it here:
Wokingham
Phil’s Good Food – Cans
Squire’s – Cans
The Tasting Barn – Cans
Station Tap – Keg
Pan Restaurant – Cans
Reading
Fox and Hounds – Keg
Nags Head – Cask
Honest Burger – Keg
Woodley
Wine Rack – Cans
Check out the Siren socials channels all next week for plenty more on Lumina! – @SirenCraftBrew
