London Fog

Origin Story

The London Fog was a brand new concept brew from February of 2014, and was another one of our latest collaborative efforts between two folks at Short's. Spurred by an idea suggested from our Southeast Beer Liberator at the time, Brian Talpos, that then expanded and built upon by Tony Hansen, the London Fog is a fun style that should appeal to all sorts of craft beer enthusiasts. Here are some of Brian's thoughts on how he recalls the concept coming to life: Well, to be honest, my only contribution would be the idea of adding Earl Grey Tea to a beer. The tea idea first started when I bought some nice loose leaf Earl Grey and really liked the nose of it. The soapy, citrus smell from the bergamot oil was very reminiscent of some of the more aromatic American hops, while the slightly astringent tea leafs provided an herbal bitterness. I can't remember where I was, but Woj and I were doing some recon and we received a call from Tony about brewing the special Ashley's 30th Anniversary beer. When the topic of an English IPA came up, I immediately thought about using Earl Grey to compliment the more subtle English hop varieties. The day of the Pearl's dinner, I ended up bringing my loose leaf tea in and having Tony and Woj smell and try some. The worry was the soapiness would take away from an English IPA, but I think it was Tony who suggested using it in a brown ale to compliment the typical sweet caramel and toffee malt flavors. –Brian After receiving the sample of Earl Gray tea from Brian, Tony did enjoy the aromatics and the potential possibilities that could come from adding it to a beer. He ended up doing his own research and came across an actual tea based beverage called, the London Fog. Said to have originated in Vancouver, British Columbia, the drink consists of mixing Earl Gray tea with milk and vanilla. Although it's been debated as to where it was actually served first, most say that patrons of a Starbucks in Calgary had been ordering it since 2004, and that it became an even more well known beverage when the chain decided to serve it a more locations. Regardless of the drinks creative birth place, Tony like the sound of it and decided to couple Brian's Earl Gray suggestion with these other complementary additions of vanilla and milk (milk sugar in our case), creating an incredibly enjoyable English Brown Ale unlike any other.