GAVIN AITCHISON reports on some radical ingredients in upcoming releases from York Brewery.

WHEN even the reliable, steady brewers have torn up the rule book, you know times have truly changed.

Make no mistake, the experimentation of the craft beer movement is no passing fad. This is now the true nature of the British brewing scene, an untrammelled phenomenon producing an unprecedented range of unpredictable beers.

Where the innovative daredevils led the way, others have followed. It’s reached the point now where beer ideas that would have shocked us all a few years ago now prompt little more than an interested, knowing, receptive nod.

Rhubarb, lavender and coffee. Those are just three of the ingredients that will be making their way into pints near you over the next nine months or so, brewed right here in the walled centre of York.

York Brewery was respected for many years for being consistently good without being especially adventurous. Those of us who saw new microbreweries springing up with new ideas willed York to pick up the pace a little. It has certainly done that now. Over the past few years it has thrown off the shackles, moved with the times and gained a new-found respect for its new-age ales.

It had dabbled before, with beers such as its Micklegate Ginger in 2011. Last year, it celebrated its 18th birthday in style with creations including a smoked porter in January, a Tour de France special with French hops in June and Moors-ish in September, brewed using heather from the North York Moors.

York Press:

Moors-ish ale was launched last year

Now, the dabbling days are over; experimentation has become par for the course. And the team at Toft Green are revelling in the fun of it all.

The brewery launched 12 beers in its “off the wall” series last year, which was probably too many, each one barely having hit the bars before being nudged out of the way for the next.

This year, they have reined things in, producing a more selective range of four “off the wall” creations.

York Press: Singer-songwriter Alistair Griffin (foreground) at the launch of York Brewery’s Velo-City ale to commemorate the Grand Depart, with Neil Arden (left) from the brewery and Julian Sturdy MP

Velo-City was produced for the Tour de France Grand Depart last summer

Ein Stein Bitte was on the bars in January and February. It was a Vienna malt IPA and was excellent. It was amber in colour, 5.5 per cent ABV in strength and packed a rich, bitter-sweet punch.

Thereafter, things are becoming a little more imaginative. In May, the brewery will launch Rhubarb Pale Ale, promising rhubarb and vanilla flavours. In August, we’ll be invited to try The Taste of Purple, a lavender wheat beer. And then in November, that will be followed by You Mocha Me Mad, “a coffee and cacao stout”.

Personal preferences obviously vary, but the rhubarb one appeals most to me. Ilkley Brewery’s rhubarb saison, Siberia, is the benchmark here but others have also tried variations on the theme. At the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival last month, Wharfebank, Five Towns, Ilkley and Hamelsworde all had versions for sale, all seemingly proving popular.

“We have already had a year of the Off The Wall series and have had quite a nice following for it,” says Neil Arden, brand manager at York Brewery.

“The idea with the next three in particular is to bring some more Yorkshire produce into the beers. We are right on the edge of the rhubarb triangle, which is where the idea for the Rhubarb Pale came from, and we are looking at using Wolds Way lavender for that one. Then with the coffee and cacao, we have lots of chocolate heritage in York and there are more and more coffee roasters in the region as well.”