Pete Gillespie and Jos Ruffell started the Garage Project in 2011 with the help of Gillespie's brother, Ian. With humble beginnings, as the name would suggest, and created from a love of beer, Garage Project has propelled in the last 11 years.
Hundreds of beers later, the founding experimental spirit of Garage Project has remained, with it determined to push boundaries, reinterpret styles, and challenge the notion of what a beer can be. This ethos has led to the creation of Garage Project's range of Yuzu-infused and inspired products.
Yuzu is a unique ingredient adapted and used within multiple segments of the food and beverage sector. Garage Project's interest in brewing with unique ingredients drove them to reach out to Neville Chun, a local Yuzu grower, and the team began incorporating the fruit's juice and zest into several seasonal releases.
The team at Garage Project explained that Yuzu has an excellent flavour depth, similar to simultaneously biting into a grapefruit and mandarin.
"It has an incredibly potent citrus 'punch', like citrus in HD, that's both tart and sweet, coupled with the immense juicy refreshment that harmonises with the hop bitterness of a beer," said a spokesperson for Garage Project.
The ingredient's popularity can be primarily attributed to its ability to collaborate and enhance other flavour profiles, making it a star in the brewing industry. Its citrus refreshment cannot be compared with traditional or well-versed citrus flavour. The team at Garage Project added that if there's an end to Yuzu's ability to complement and build on other flavour profiles, the Garage Project team had yet to find it. This is why a Yuzu release evokes excitement from the Garage Project team and its customers.
Garage Project has been utilising Yuzu in beers for years, and the demand for the ingredient has continued to grow, which has also pushed Garage Project to continue new product development involving Yuzu, which has also meant a larger supply order from Neville Chun.
Garage Project's first product with Yuzu was its Wabi Sabi Sour 2014, a sour beer combining Honeydew Melon and Yuzu.
"We then created 'Yuzukoshō'- inspired by the Yuzu and Chili condiment, added a Yuzu infused version of our cult classic, 'Pernicious Weed', a raspberry yuzu brewed alcoholic seltzer."
Garage Project's most recent creation with the fruit was the ultimate amalgamation of two beers from opposite ends of the flavour spectrum. A rich dessert stout was blended with a barrel aged yuzu wildflower sour to create 'The View From Nowhere'.
The Garage Project team would love to see more local Yuzu crops being grown and made available, accessibility and seasonality being the most significant limitations of fruit utilisation as an ingredient across industries.
Read more about Yuzu in the latest issue below.
