The Hepworth version featured in a piece on ales with which to convert lager drinkers, first published in BEER February 2009. This version may no longer be in production.
ABV: 4.5%
Origin: Holyoke, Massachusetts, USA (original version); Horsham, West Sussex, England (licensed version)
Website: www.highandmightybeer.com, www.papercity.com
High & Mighty Beer Company
While licensing of international lager brands is all too common, a US craft beer brewed under license by a UK brewery in a bottle conditioned version is probably unprecedented. High & Mighty Beer of the Gods was planned by US beer importer Shelton Brothers as a cross between a Kölsch and an Altbier, with the original version contract brewed at Paper City brewery, Holyoke, Massachusetts. The beer was so successful the Will Shelton has since left his brother to focus on importing, and is concentrating on brewing. He’s expanded the range beyond Beer of the Gods, and while still using Paper City he’s now looking to open his own plant.
Among the British beers that Shelton imports is a range from Ridgeway, the brewing company set up by ex-Brakspear brewer Peter Scholey. This is another brewery without its own brewing kit, so most of the beers are contract breweed at Hepworth in Horsham. The connections via the US importer led, in 2008, to Scholey producing a British-brewed bottle conditioned version of Beer of the Gods at Hepworth, sold through Sainsbury’s supermarkets.
It’s easy to understand the appeal of the original. It’s a hazy pale yellow and pours with a good white head, exuding a pale malt aroma with a very Germanic hoppy scent (hops are indeed imported from Germany) and notes of lemon squash. A crisp, dry and tasty palate is hoppy but softened by honeyed notes, a squeeze of lemon and vivid spicy flavours of fennel and citrus peel. A hoppy swallow leads to a citrically bitter finish smoothed by tasty vanilla malt. It’s an unusual, but easy going and refreshing beer.
I didn’t get to taste the British-brewed version side by side with the American one, but my notes suggest this is a slighly more pungent and fuller-bodied beer, substantial but still very refreshing. It’s a delicate gold with a fine white head and a complex creamy, fruity malt and hops, with a lime citrus note dominating. There’s more citrus on a sweetish palate which dries with botanical gin-like notes, yielding crisp malt and pungent peppery hops. There’s more crisp malt along with olives on the finish, which also has fluffy hop resins and a slightly stern, flinty note.
Both beers provide easy and enjoyable refreshment for the serious beer drinker.
Read more about these beers at ratebeer.com:
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/high-mighty-beer-of-the-gods/60738/
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/ridgeway-paper-city-high-mighty-beer-of-the-gods/91680/
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