A pint at a brewery social led two Cornish breweries to collaborate on a one-off cask ale.

The idea for the limited-edition Fuse (5 per cent ABV) came from St Austell’s Lee Walker and Penryn-based Verdant’s head of operations James Heffron over a beer.

Verdant’s brew manager Sam Taylor (above left) joined Walker (right) in St Austell’s small-batch brewery to bring Fuse to life. It’s been made with Verdant’s yeast and three new experimental English hop varieties.

The finished beer is packed with tropical fruit and citrus flavours. It has a savoury biscuity note to it with a thick and chewy mouth feel.

Walker said: “It’s really exciting to collaborate with another Cornish brewery whose beers we regularly seek out. St Austell and Verdant produce very different beers in their day-to-day operations, so the idea of coming together to blend styles and flavour ideas has been a real pleasure.”

Fuse forms part of the St Austell’s Cask Club series which sees a variety of experimental beers.

Taylor said: “St Austell is steeped in tradition and our brewery is the opposite of that. Both breweries are coming at things from a different angle and that’s the true point of collaboration, different ideas from different places that coalesce to make one product that is great and brings something new to the table that neither one of us would have thought about doing.

“We’re lucky to have our own yeast strain and lucky that it lends itself to this style of hazy New England beer.”