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IN OUR CRAFT BEER STORIES WE REVIEW AND GENERALLY TALK CRAFT BEERS FROM BREWERIES THAT ARE LOCAL TO US, AND FROM FURTHER AFIELD ACROSS OUR BRITISH ISLES. TODAY'S STORY TELLS OF SESH IPA FROM CANNABREW BREWERY IN LANCASTER.
“I reckon I could climb that tree.”
My younger self knew that trees are for climbing, and I reckon I could climb this one, in a local forest not far from the cyclepath, on my way to a waterfall where some good thinking gets done. It has all the right qualities of a climbable tree. But what if I fall? What if I can't get down? Or worse, what if someone sees me? How to explain to a passerby that a grown man just fancied climbing a tree alone in the woods? Adults don't do that. Adults are safe and considerate and don't do things that are dangerous or weird.
"Maybe later," I tell the tree and make my way up the mountain bike path where kids have built jumps and padded banks with soil to make rounded corners - now I could definitely do that.
I can’t remember when I stopped climbing trees but I did, and it’s probably around the time a bunch of other societal restrictions were subconsciously implanted on me. Take the beer I have in my backpack for example, “Sesh”, a Session IPA from Cannabrew.
"given the infusion with CBD oil, their beers are 'packed with benefits for both your body and wellbeing.'"
I bought it during my trip to the Lakes where I found a few other interesting craft tipples in a place called Kittchen, a craft bar and shop in Hawkshead. I asked for four local beers and the lady behind the counter cheerfully plucked out her favourites, one of which, the one I'm holding, had a name that conjured memories of less dutiful adult days and a cover adorned with buds that are definitely not hops
I was just about to pay when I noticed it, my societal conformity alarm started blaring, "Is that…"
I guess my face had some concern in it because she placed a hand on the can and said, "Oh, don't worry, perfectly legal, it has CBD oil in it."
I was a little embarrassed at having been thought a prude, and a little curious at myself for pausing at the novel can.
"I'll change it for another, if you like?"
She was just about to take it away, so I said "No, it's fine, I've never seen that before."
"the can stares out at society: not challenging, just ...amused; the moment to drink it had to be right."
The Cannabrew beer sat in my fridge for a week or so after the trip, sure I wanted to savour it, but I also wanted to give it the time it deserved, it being unique and all, and the way it sort of stares out at society: not challenging, just ...amused; the moment to drink it had to be right. Perhaps I was also a little intimidated by it.
Like all good waterfalls, you can hear them before they are spotted. This one is relatively small but it still makes a good roar. The path from the cyclepath meanders up, following what is more stream than river, but during a good downpour it gives its best impression of one. Someone built a wooden bridge over the river where the waterfall crests its edge and cascades onto the rocks below. The path isn’t frequently travelled but it is littered with mine openings, the nearest one is a little further upstream, and I wonder whether once upon a time this path and bridge were used by miners. The entire area is pocked with mines, the one that's a short walk north of the waterfall has been closed for as long as I can remember and as long as any of the more aged locals I have asked can remember - in the time since its closure it has become more cave than mine, its entrance overgrown, a foreboding sign outside warning people not to venture into it, and a collection of industrial equipment that I can identify as man-made, whose specific use I am oblivious to other than “mining”, have been discarded along the stream, or perhaps spewed out by the angry maw of the mine itself.
It is on this bridge, over a waterfall, where I choose to drink the CBD infused IPA.
"The beer smells of caramel, sweet and fruity, with a complex depth. I pour a little into a cup I’ve brought, the hue is redder than I expected"
I sit on the wooden bridge and let my legs swing over the edge. I pull out Cannabrew’s Sesh IPA and pop the can’s pull. There’s probably some stigma attached to drinking alone in the woods, I’m sure that would get me an interesting look, just the same as if I were staring down at them from a tree, and were they to look close enough would they also wonder at this miscreant drinking cannabis beer in the forest?
But the perfect drinking spot can be hard to find, and once found must be cherished. And this spot, sat on the wooden bridge, with the peaceful sounds of swaying branches, the chirping of birds, the gentle lapping of water on stone, and the distant gurgle of the stream as it makes its leisurely way to join the parent river, is perfect for exercising some mindfulness. As such it is an ideal candidate for the Sesh beer I’m about to enjoy, which, as Cannabrew Brewery themselves state, given it’s infusion with CBD oil, is “packed with benefits for both your body and wellbeing.”
It smells of caramel, sweet and fruity, with a complex depth. I pour a little into a cup I’ve brought and the hue is redder than I expected, hazy to the point it’s almost cloudy. I look out over the woods as I take a sip and wash it around my mouth: it tastes of berries, I think I get some apricot, there is a caramel sweetness in the background and a citrus edge, an IPA for sure, fruity and juicy too, with a scent of blackcurrant which perhaps accounts for its redness. It doesn’t taste as I expected, and ...well ...I wonder whether what I was expecting was a distinctive taste of cannabis. Instead I have a delicious IPA that I could drink plenty more of. As its name suggests, this is a Session IPA, and rather than the curio I thought it might become it is one of the more enjoyable and intriguing IPA’s I have drunk in a long while. Not because of the CBD oil, which I thought might set the taste of this beer apart, rather because it is a righteous IPA in its own right. As for the CBD oil itself: am I imagining that warm tingle? I have a wash of tranquility, which I imagine is a pairing of both my surroundings and the beer, I am most certainly at peace.
The empty can is tucked back into my backpack, I savour a moment longer in the peace of the waterfall’s company before standing and making my way back down the path. I shall definitely be ordering more from Cannabrew, who say their beer is “infused with CBD oil for an exciting, refreshing flavour packed with benefits for both your body and well being.” It certainly is an exciting beer, full of flavour, definitely refreshing, and the health benefits of CBD oil are widely touted.
I arrive back at the tree my younger self would most certainly have climbed, and remember another quote I read on Cannabrew’s site:
“Contemporary living is about doing things differently and breaking new ground.”
To hell with it, I think, as I place a hand on the tree’s closest branch and my foot on the bark of its trunk. I heave myself up.
Garin @LoveOurCraft
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