Silent Spring, Black Isle

Silent Spring 4.5%

Silent Spring has been made by Scottish brewery Black Isle that is dedicated to using organic ingredients. It has worked with a search engine, Ecosia, that uses its revenue to plant trees, capture carbon and aid the environment.

The pale ale dedicated to the work of Rachel Carson, the American biologist and conservationist, whose book of that name was published 60 years ago this month. Carson documented the environmental harm caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides and accused the giants of the chemical industry of selling dangerous products such as DDT.

The result was a world-wide ban on the use of DDT but Ecosia says much work still needs to be done to help save the planet and endangered species. It has planted 150 million trees worldwide to help capture dangerous carbon emissions.

It has joined forces with Black Isle Brewery in the Scottish Highlands that has been brewing organic beers since 1998. The beer is available from the brewery’s online shop but will go on sale in draught form later this year at a series of events to highlight the need to continue to tackle climate change.

The unfiltered, hazy blond beer is brewed with lager malt, darker cara malt and wheat. The hops include a new organic hop, Ariana, grown in Germany, along with American Cascade and Mosaic varieties.

The beer has a punchy aroma of toasted malt, fresh pine and lemon and lime fruit. Tart hops and fruit dominate the palate but there’s a good balance of biscuit malt. The finish is long and quenching with lemon fruit to the fore along with pine and rich malt notes.

It costs £3.50 for a 440ml can from www.blackislebrewery.com/buy-online. Watch out for it in supermarkets and specialist beer shops later this year and raise a glass to the memory of Rachel Carson who, with a terrible irony, died aged just 56 after a long struggle with cancer.