Happy New Year from Team Mondo…

…JUST NOT A NORMAL YEAR

What a year. If only we could have been more like our latest brew, Galileo, and bedded down in bourbon barrels for most of it. In some way, some of us did. (Note to self: buy more bourbon.) Instead, we watched the seesaw of our industry falling apart; a political response that consigned satire to the dustbin, all trumped (don’t mention him) by avoidable loss of life. All the good humour in the world can’t take away from the devastation of this year, felt most acutely by those who have lost loved ones and livelihoods. In the grand scheme of things, here at Mondo, we’ve been lucky.

In lighter news, we are really very proud of our barrel-aged Imperial Stout and below we tell you a little bit more about it. But first, we wish you all the very best for 2021. We’ll come back even stronger and do our bit to lighten your load.

One more time, stay safe.

Team Mondo x

BOOZY AND RICH

Galileo is a 10% Imperial Stout, aged in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels and conditioned on cacao nibs. Brewed in collaboration with our American friends, Heretic Brewing. It was first brewed in early 2019 with our old friend Jamil, we then aged the beer for 18 months before re-brewing a clean version and blending it back, dialling in a boozy and rich flavour profile from both sides of the Atlantic.

“Jamil has been a friend of the brewery for close to five years. We’d made three different beers together up to this point and barrel-aging a unique stout was a logical conclusion for a fourth. It was Jamil who recommended over-aging to 18 months in barrel and blending back with a clean version of the same beer, to achieve a unique flavour profile unattainable by just aging.”

Thomas Palmer, Head Brewer & Co-Founder.

We’ve even put it in a BBQ sauce. We’d been talking about collaborating with Prairie Fire BBQ for quite some time and when our good friend Michael asked us if we had any dark beers available for a sauce, we knew what to do. See their website for how to get hold of a very limited edition treat.

This beer was well worth the wait and available on our web shop now.

SO WHAT BARRELS CAN WE HIDE IN DURING 2021?

 “We’ve continued the programme by filling our Chardonnay barrels with a variety of brews that include our kettle-soured porter collaboration with Fierce Beer and our Hoosier Pilsner collaboration with 2nd Shift Brewing. What’s gone into the bourbon barrels? A big, old pastry stout.”

Thomas Palmer, Head Brewer & Co-Founder.

 

And to end, we paraphrase Galileo himself:

“Beer is sunlight, held together by water.”

 

Words by Tom Harrison.
Artwork by Luke Drozd.