Anyone up for a Beer Day? We’ve got together with our friends at Southey Brewing to offer some beery midweek magic. On Wednesday, 17th August (and until it runs out) you will be able to drink in some Deserter history at The Shirker’s Rest, New Cross – and also make some.
Deserter IPA
Classic Deserter IPA will be available on both keg and – for the first time in as long as anyone can remember (about two years) – also on cask.
The original brew was created by us and brewer Sam Barber in or around 2015 after a long day at Late Knights’ Penge brewery spent sniffing hops, sipping samples and talking beer – and later, no doubt, talking shit. Fortunately, Sam wrote everything down, so history records it was bittered using Columbus and Magnum hops, flavoured with Cascade and Citra, with the latter also used for dry-hopping. It was delicious, even if we say so ourselves, and riots ensued across South London when it sold out, possibly.
But one thing nagged at us. Originally we had wanted to use the new ‘super hop’ Mosaic for the dry hopping, but it was so popular that it was sold out – for 24 months. That is, you could order some, but you wouldn’t receive it for two years. But sod it, we weren’t going anywhere. So we stuck in an order and waited.
Two years later we returned to what was now Southey Brewing HQ and made another, bigger batch with added Mosaic, which remains close to what you will taste if you come down this week. That, too, was delicious. But could it possibly be too delicious? We kept accidentally drinking eight pints of it which, with an ABV of 5.5%, led to us going astray: losing phones, hugging postboxes and sleeping in skips. Happy days.
So Sam had an idea – a ‘session’ version of Deserter IPA, based on a similar recipe, but one that you could drink, perhaps… forever?
Lazy Jesus
With Bravo hops added to the flavouring for a smoother citrus ride, and El Dorado to the dry-hopping to bring tropical fruits to the fore, Sam created a wonderfully drinkable but no less flavoursome keg beer for summer quaffing. All we had to do was name it.
After divine intervention and a boozy pump clip art competition won by Ellie Lou, Lazy Jesus was born and it debuted at the Deserter Women’s World Cup Beer Festival in 2019. It sold out in a single weekend and remains a Southey Brewing best seller to this day.
But what, we wondered aloud the other day, while sprawling across the booths at Southey’s Penge tap room, would it taste like on cask? There’s only one way to find out, said Sam. And he put aside a barrel-load from his next batch. And so on Wednesday, for the first time in the history of the world, join us for the chance to try Lazy Jesus on cask.
It’s what He would have wanted.
- Where: The Shirker’s Rest, New Cross
- When: Wednesday, 17th August, from 5pm
- What: Deserter IPA pouring on keg and cask; Lazy Jesus on cask for the first time
- Why: For the good of all humankind
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