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Black Sheep Riggwelter

You asked for a strong ale, we gave you Riggwelter, a powerhouse of a beer.

Much thought went into the creation of our flagship ‘strong’ ale. To create something with real strength and depth we developed a unique recipe featuring rich espresso aromas, dark fruit and roasted malt flavours.

Riggwelter Ale takes its name from a local Yorkshire Dales farming term which has Norse roots; “rygg” meaning back, and “velte” meaning to overturn. A sheep is said to be rigged or ‘riggwelted’ when it has rolled onto its back and is unable to get back up without assistance.

What better name for a strong beer from the Black Sheep Brewery in Yorkshire? Riggwelter is also available in cask.

Wild Beer/8 Wired 2016 Black & Blue

The Rainbow Project 2016

Ideas flew back and forth across the equator centered around the colour Blue: using e numbers, icebergs, berries, potatoes, even a dye used in brewing which turns your pee blue (sadly poisonous...)! But in the end we went far more abstract and took the classic French black & blue steak as our inspiration.

Thus was born Black and Blue – a raw ale, un-hopped and un-boiled, fermented and aged in re-toasted bourbon casks for an extra charred flavour alongside brisk acidity from fermentation with our house cultures in barrels for over 6 months.

Every good steak needs a sauce to go with it so we introduced white, green and black peppercorns into the mash to accompany our raw ale.