The origin of the word “ Hopshackle “ is unknown , but it’s transitive verb is to hobble which has several relevant meanings .

Hobble – to walk with an uneven , unsteady or feeble gait ; to hinder , perplex or tie together the legs of to prevent escape , kicking , or to regulate pace or stride . Dray horses were hobbled to ensure that they did not waste any of the valuable beer that they were delivering !

Why Historic Ales ? My great love is for the ales of yesteryear , the I.P.A. ‘s full of hop flavour , bitterness and high alcoholic content . For browns , ambers , milds and barley wines , all with there distinctive flavours and characteristics . To taste ales the way they used to be , before they became a mass produced commodity , made as quickly as possible to last as long as possible ! So put simply we want to make beers that generations before have tasted ; the recipes are based on historic ones and some of the ingredients used are not common in modern ales .

Ale or Beer ! Whats the difference ? Is there any difference ?

Ale – this historically referred to a malt beverage made without the use of any hops . The maltiness of the brew was balanced with spices , herbs and sometimes pepper .

Beer – this historically referred to a malt beverage which had the maltiness balanced by the bitterness from hops .

These two “ styles “ of beverage were distinct upto about 1700 , but with the decline in unhopped ales , beer became synonomous with all hopped malt beverages , even lagers . Today , the terms ale and beer are used largely in the same context describing a hopped beverage fermented with a top fermenting yeast at temperatures of around 20 oC . Whilst lagers are fermented at a temperature of around 8 oC by bottom fermenting yeast .