The word ‘Nitro’ has been used to describe many things to make them sound exciting over the years. From Gladiators musclemen, through German TV stations and an English theatre company to even an Indian rollercoaster. It’s funny how just 5 letters can transform someone or something to new levels of expectation and excitement.
I’m delighted to confirm that ‘Nitro’ has now become a thing in the UK craft beer world.
I was never any good at chemistry (or in fact any science at school) and I don’t really know what purpose nitrogen served as it’s both colourless and odourless. I do, though remember hearing about a widget revolution in beer during the early 1990s, in particular John Smith’s Extra Smooth, Guiness and their short lived Guinness Bitter and how they were improved by the addition of the atomic number 7.
So, keeping it as simple as possible, here’s why ‘Nitro’ could be the next big thing. The stout is made as usual with water, barley, hops and yeast but the brewer adds a small amount of our new friend ‘N’ at the carbonation stage. When released, nitrogen bubbles are smaller and finer than CO2 bubbles and this is what gives the thick, creamy ‘chewy’ mouthfeel.
I read somewhere that over 350,000 pints of Guiness were drunk at the recent Cheltenham Festival race meeting, generating a staggering £2.7million in sales. This comes just a few weeks after a national shortage of Ireland’s favourite beverage was declared.
I guess this highlights two things – 1) People love drinking dark beer (even at £7.80 a pint) and 2) If you are a brewer, you should be producing a dark beer to appeal to these drinkers.
We’ve been really and I mean really impressed with the new True Stout from Titanic Brewery, one of our oldest suppliers. To get the maximum benefit of the wonderful nitrogen bubbles, you should follow their pouring instructions-
1) Store upright in the fridge for at least 2 hours
2) Invert the can twice
3) Pour fast and into an upright glass.
They’ve even printed the instructions upside down on the can in case you get confused mid pour!
We got Gill and Cheryl to show us how to pour (and enjoy) a nitro stout. To see how they get on click here.
If you want to be part of the nitro revolution, you can order a case of Titanic True Stout here
