Walsall brewhouse creates an England World Cup beer – using German hops

Lion Heart bitter is the newest creation from The Backyard Brewhouse in Brownhills.

The new release, boasting an earthy, grass, nectar fruit and a subtle spice flavour, was created by operations direct Austen Morgan and brewing director Mike Bates.

The brewery is known for creating themed beers, ales and lager, usually placing a unique spin on ingredients and the names.

Austen said: "So far the sales on the kegs are really good, we only started letting people know it's available a couple of weeks ago and we will see it going out next week, so far we have sold around half of everything we have produced. Hopefully it will bring England luck.

While backing the Three Lions, the beer has Germany to thank for its unique taste.

Austen said: "This time we have used a German hop called hallertau, which has a unique but subtle spice to it, it's one of the traditional German largering hops. What we wanted in the end was a lighter character, it's not a beer that you would normally expect, it's a more subtle, nuanced drink."

The beer takes around nine days to make and the whole brewery team gets involved in the planning and tasting aspects of production.

The brewer said: "Everything is brewed locally here, and as with all our recipes it's a group effort, one person will be in charge with coming up the initial idea, but we all brainstorm together to come up with the final product."

Lion Heart Bitter is only sold in kegs for pubs and bar usage and will be hitting the taps locally soon.

Austen said: "We always do these limited production runs – once it's gone it's gone, you need to get there first."