Monday 22 December 2014

Have a good Yule / Xmas break!

This is the final post for 2014, a year which has seen some massive upheavals in the brewery but we've come through it stronger and having learnt a lot so expect 2015 to continue along the same tracks we've been ploughing with plenty of one-off pale and hoppy beers, the odd dark one, and some surprises which we'll let you know about next year!  

Oh yeah, and collaborations too... we've loads in the tentative planning stage so we need to firm those up and get some beers brewed.

So, to all our customers - both trade and personal - may we wish you all a happy Yule and hope you get to enjoy plenty of hoppy beer over the period (as well as other stuff too...) and we'll see you all next year, raring to go, but for now... CHEERS!!

Gazza and Jay, the brewhouse team.

Monday 15 December 2014

Wrapping it all up

Excuse the terrible pun, but this is indeed our final week before we shut down for the Xmas break until new year, a day here and there notwithstanding.

So, it's time to wash all the casks we have and fill them up with beer ready for next year, give the brewery a full caustic brew then put it to bed until new year when it all starts over again!

The coming weekend sees the final deliveries of the year (probably) to Sheffield plus Gazza will be at the beer scooper's Xmas piss-up around Sheffield on Saturday 20th so come and buy him a beer or throw things at him, your choice...


Thursday 11 December 2014

Two M4 trips in less than a week...

I sit writing this knackered from a 12-hour, 400 mile day delivering another load of casks to our lovely customers in Devizes, Reading, Wantage and Rowhook!  We generally do a vanload per month to London but, this month, we filled the van twice and probably could have done another run if someone had inserted another day into the calendar...

Anyhow, we're brewing tomorrow - the first and only time in December as we stocked up on beer during October and November - and it'll be a Black IPA, the first one since "Ta Moko" in October 2013 and only our second one ever... unless you count "Graveyard Eyes" Mk.1 as one (you'd have a good argument if you did...)

It'll be a 5.5%-ish beast with 100+ IBUs from the glorious combination of Citra, Summit, Cluster and Columbus hops and Weyermann Carafa Spezial No.1 and, as you've probably guessed, it doesn't have a name yet although we'll think of one eventually.  I love Black IPAs but, for reasons unknown, they haven't featured on the brewing schedule as heavily as I'd have liked; hopefully this will remedy that situation!

Friday 5 December 2014

"Goldings Balls" is in cask

Guessing this isn't the kind of name you expect from us, eh?

Well, that's what collabs are about, taking something from each participant and creating something both can put their name to... which is, hopefully, what this will end up!

Anyhow, it's in cask and tasting mellow, malty, softly fruity and with a gentle bitterness and yellow/gold in colour... it'll be out and about from next week so watch out for it and please let us know what you think if you get to try it!


Wednesday 3 December 2014

Dry-hopping in the FV

Is something we've only tried once before (it didn't really work) but, for our Mumbles collab, we decided to give it another blast with the soft fruity Waimea hops from New Zealand.

OK, it looks like an algae-covered pond, but I'm sure it'll taste lovely!  We've given it a stir a couple of times and each time it's returned to this state so that's it - we're leaving it alone until Friday when we cask it up!