Are friends Electric?

Hello all.

It’s not unusual to have sudden changes of plan when dealing with small brewers, it’s all part of life’s rich tapestry when you are constantly chasing a small supply with variable demand. But it seems lately that the Gods of Electrickery are against us at every stage. First Red Willow managed to blow up or set fire to their mains supply, and now poor old Off Beat have been struck by spark demons who have savaged their electricity as well. Luckily we managed to grab the last few casks from Michelle before the inevitable shutdown and rewire. Hopefully it’ll all work well for them, and they’ll be back brewing on Monday. This week we have a few of their newest beer, a 6.5% American Brown Ale called ‘Grateful Deaf’ as well as the superb Out of Step IPA and Outlandish Pale. We also have a couple of Oddball Red and Unhinged Ginger for those who get in early.

Whilst on the subject of variable supplies, we were expecting some more beer from Tempest this week, but due to their local demand soaring, we won’t be getting that until next week now. On the other side of the same coin, we will have a more steady supply from Hand Draw Monkey from now on as we have agreed a better supply schedule that should mean that it’s on the list a lot more.  Pale, IPA and ‘What would Jephers do?’ on the list from them this week, and more monkey based shenanigans real soon.

One of the things that we are working hard to make work better is the supply of bottled product. If you are interested in some bottled beers from our brewers, then get in touch and we should now have a lot more stock than we have carried in the past, especially of Tiny Rebel and Moor bottles. We will be developing stock of other brewers products as well over the next few months, but if there is something particular you want, then we’ll as ever try to source that as well.

One of my favorites is back on this week, Buxton’s American Rye, along with the new American hopped iteration of Buxton Bitter and old favorites Moor Top and Gold. We reckon that Buxton ought to get a lot more love than they do at the moment, really well brewed beers that show loads of skills off and are a lot more hop forward and modern than some of the names and badges might suggest. Hopefully this batch will come with the new design pump clips that will raise the bar top image a lot.

Tiny Rebel have been at it again as well, ‘Hank’ just won’t stop rolling out to you lovely people and this week we have it in Keg for the first time, and  Beatbox re-appears in Cask. We also have restock of some other lines and are expecting Fubar. Urban and Hadouken bottles any minute.

Have a great weekend!

Cheers

Justin and Steve.

Our reward for winning the Ashes again.

I've had a couple of samples arrive from Moon Dog brewery near Melbourne over there in 'Stralia. We met them through the fine offices of the guys at Eco-Keg who are based down there as well, and we are looking forward to trying their beers out.

They look interesting, and due to the wonders of the Internets I can also see what else is going on over there in the Melbourne area, there are some cool looking little breweries so it would seem.

Will let you know how they drink soon enough.

The Banks might be on Holiday....

Hi Everyone.

Good week this week, a few new beers in and some extra stock of stuff that some people missed last time out.

Dancing Duck make a welcome return to the fold, with a selection of beers that should suit most tastes. Aye-up is back in, as are 22 and Nice Weather at the session-able golden end of things, whilst there are limited quantities of Dark Drake, Abduction and Seduction for those who like it stronger or darker.

Summer Wine is also on the bounce back, with Zenith that is actually Zenith this time, and another few big hoppy beers that we haven’t seen before. ‘Baron von Belicose’ has been claimed by the Yorkshiremen as their most heavily hopped beer. An absolute monster of an IPA brewed with Citra, Centennial, Mosaic, Southern Cross and Galaxy to give Citrus, Bubblegum, Blueberry, Mango, Papaya, Lemongrass and Passionfruit flavours. This is then triple dry-hopped to boost the aroma still further….7.5% abv as well, it’s certainly something to behold.

It’s joined by another ‘Devil Loves’ hopped with Chinook this time, as well as a few more kegs of Berry Big Porter, the 7.2% ‘Imperial’ version of ‘Teleporter’ with added fresh figs and blackberries, and some more ‘Devil Loves Nelson Sauvin’. I love Nelson Sauvin as well…what does that say about me?

Tiny Rebel continue to forge ahead with new launches, and this week we have ‘Loki’ which puts the last 5kg of ‘Jester’ hops from Charles Faram to good use. You will remember them as the hop used for ‘Empire Strikes Back’ at the end of last year, so a bit special. We’ve also brought forward the delivery of the next batch of ‘Hank’ to satisfy those who missed it last week, and some ‘Full Nelson’ just because.

Anarchy have also sent us something new from the North East, who is going to their ‘Mash Up’ Festival next weekend? If you can’t make that, then we have a few casks of ‘Rough Justice’ a 4.5% Amber Rye beer, and more Blonde and Citra Star, topped off with ‘Quiet Riot’ the Kiwi IPA, and ‘Grin and Bare it’ which seems appropriate for the Geordies.

Last but not least, more Wild Card from as far away as Walthamstow. Their beautiful Ruby Ale is a wonderful pint. Proper.

Have a great weekend folks

When everything is made to be broken.

Dearest fellow Zymurgists.

This week has been hectic, GBBF week always is.

On the one hand we have the fantastic news that Moor Beer ‘Revival’ won a Silver in the Bitter class, on the other it’s plain that CAMRA still haven’t got the hang of what these hateful young people with their training shoes and trousers de’Nimes are doing, and what business they have with Real Ale, what with their Colonial Hops, strange Continental stylings, and even beer in Kegs that they claim to be better than Old Throbbeer’s Peculiar Mild.

But seriously, why can you buy a German Lager on Keg at the GBBF, but not a pint of Lovibonds 69 IPA? It makes no sense. Maybe Jeff ought to invest in more rugger jerseys and jester hats, or get a marching band.

Anyway, I digress.

This week sees a debut for new signing Black Iris Brewery, they arrive at Liberty’s Purfleet training ground with a strong variety of beers ranging from a single hop Chinook pale ale, through to a Black IPA that is also single hopped with American hops. In-between there are American and Kiwi hopped Stout and Porter, a couple of interesting looking Reds, and a couple of nice hoppy session strength offerings. We hope you will all make them welcome.

We seem to be talking about Welsher scamps Tiny Rebel every week at the moment, but they are back for pre-season training (you liking this football shtick?) with a new Simcoe/Centennial Pale called ZOOL.

There is no Dana, only ZOOL.  (I thought that was Zuul, wasn’t ZOOL an old video game? That would make sense what with Hadouken as well. No wonder the beer choosing and Morris dancing division of CAMRA is confused, I’m puzzled as well.)

Whilst vaguely floating around the subject of Tiny Rebel, we have Hank back for those who missed him the other week, and loads of Galaxy in Billabong.

Red Willow are also back on the menu this week, with another selection of confusingly named beers ending in ‘ess’ or Roman numerals. You should know most of them already, but I do have a few Kegs of the latest ‘Faithless’ series, Gooseberry Saison and a hopped pale with loads of Amarillo, Chinook, Citra, Columbus  and Simcoe. At the high end of the IPA/DIPA spectrum, there are also a small number of Shameless and Sleepless in cask, and Ageless in Keg. Finally, one and only one keg of Witless III, a 7% Wheat with American hopping. Massive.

Lastly, back to the beginning. Moor Nor’Hop is in short supply for the next couple of weeks, so if you want it and particularly if you want it in a Keg (yeah, sorry old chap, it tastes magnificent under pressure.) then order NOW for the next fortnight. Yes, it won a badge at the big show, but we haven’t got any Revival apart from one lonely keg, and Illusion and Radiance are back in stock, as well as Bottles, Glassware and other goodies.

Have a splendid weekend.

Steve and Justin 

OOooh You little Tart.

Hi, Long time no see.

I do these every week, and send them out by email to our lovely customers, but it's been pointed out to me that I really ought to have some way of archiving them, so as of today I'll be posting the weekly beer blah that our customers get up on here as well. It's the one bit of the week's admin that I really enjoy doing, so I hope that people enjoy reading them as well.

As usual, feedback, abuse, corrections or free cakes like the TMS team get will all be appreciated.

Enjoy (or not, up to you really)

Greetings Beer Pickers!

Yes, it’s a little tart, but the boys at Buxton have been busy with some fabulous new beers. There aren’t many of them about, but we have some of their Black Sour which I’ve tried and is EPIC. We also have their Saison, and most excitingly the first collaboration with To Ol from Scandiwegia. These guys are some of the best brewers in Europe right now, and let me tell you that along with some re-branding, Buxton is going to be the hot name to watch over the next few months. Of course, we also have some casks as well, and in that area they have a new ultra hoppy session ale called Jacobs Ladder, which also has the benefit of donating some money to their local Mountain Rescue team for every cask sold. Good Work Charitable fellas.

On the Tart theme, we also have The Kernel’s Biere de Table this week to sit alongside the London Sour in your fridge, I’ve not had the chance to try Evin’s take on Belgian Farmhouse Ale/Saison, but I know I want to (Steve won’t, he hates sour beer….the big glass of water.) both are in classy Stella-a-like 330ml bottles for your whoopin-an-a-hollerin’ pleasure.

If you need any more persuasion on the Continental side, we found a pallet of ‘Claudia’ kegs that brewer Tom at Moor had tried to hide from us, he failed and so we have the last 10 kegs of this year’s production available to you, our lovely customers. As Jeremy Clarkson might say, “Some people say this is the best beer that Moor have ever produced, all we know is that it’s a bloody good Berliner Heffe-Weise.”

Anyway, you know I went to Manchester the other week? Well I also got my hands on some new Kegs from Summer Wine as well, so this week we have the second ‘Devil Loves’ series beer, this time it’s Chinook’s turn to do the hopping. There are two more new keg beers to come from them in the next fortnight, in the meantime we got some fresh supplies of favourites like Zenith Pale, some Diablo and for the old people, Resistance Mild. (how is Saison trendy, and Mild pensioner worthy? When they were both brewed for the workers to quench their thirst? Does drinking like a Belgian farmer really make you hip?)

I think Mild is a bit of a Black Country thing, and so is Neck Oil from Beavertown. To help the workers kill that thirst, kindly Mr Plant and his Colonial friend Mr Byron have given us a chunky discount on their fine Black Country Session Beer to pass along to you all.

Right, what else?

Oh yeah, loads of Casks from Anarchy, with some of their great new Keg recipes making the transition to cask. We have Citra-Star (name speaks for itself really, blonde and loads of Citra hops….) Crime Scene American Amber, and Quiet Riot big NZ hopped IPA in the house.

That’s about it for this week, stock has been boosted on the Tiny Rebel as well for those of you who missed out last week, so have a bog weekend and go crazy!

Fin.

Justin and Steve.