East Kent IPA

East Kent Goldings are the finest hops in the world for balance, subtlety and finesse. So we brewed a 6.5% pale ale stuffed full of them, and then dry hopped it with an eye watering amount more. The result is neither balanced nor subtle, but it is hoppy and ever so drinkable.

The very first casks left the warehouse this morning, destined for:

The Foundry Brewpub, Canterbury, where they'll be serving it this Friday evening.
The Sir Stanley Grey, Pegwell.
The Lifeboat, Margate.
The Queen Charlotte, Ramsgate.
Artillary Arms, Ramsgate.
The Green Berry, Deal.

More will surely follow...

Energy recovery project (ERP)

One of this year's bigger projects is re-engineering the brew-house to incorporate an energy recovery & re-use system. By condensing all the steam coming off the copper, and using that recovered heat to pre-heat the wort in the following brew, we can substantially reduce our energy consumption. In order to minimise losses brewing will continue uninterrupted until the week's production is complete. I haven't persuaded the team that this is a good idea yet, but I will.

Whilst this concept is not unusual in larger breweries (in fact I'm visiting one later this week to see what I can learn) it is largely unheard of at our scale. I have no idea why, but I suspect I might be finding out. Follow my comedic progress here in your sour away brewblog.

Too Many (Duff) Bloggers?

(with thanks to Tandleman for the idea)

When we welcomed the explosion of beer writers brought about by Blogger, did we imagine we’d end up with so many of them? Did we imagine them all to be good? Is it as though just Blogger has caused this, or is it that ratebeer (RB) has lead to an increasing (or decreasing) number of opinions on a beer? Do some bloggers exist solely in order that their opinions reach a wider audience than the RB faithful? Are some of these opinions rather desperate in the extreme, harsh and cruel towards their subject matter simply in order to get noticed in the crowd? I talk to quite a few of them, and they all pretty much agree – it’s a desperate cycle of tasting ever more beers to keep their RB numbers ahead of the game, so much so that valid opinion is heavily discounted along the way, along with any literary quality.

Of course, the other side of the coin is that there are some beer writers out there making excellent judgement calls, writing really well and getting read widely. These bloggers have no need to write harshly about this beer or that, such is their reputation. Here we are talking about the Dredge’s & the Chunk’s of this world, but for many it is a relentless slog, attempting to string a decent sentence or two together, to get noticed amongst the throng of fellow bloggers.

Are there half arsed bloggers about? Of course there are. Why don’t they shut up? Well, does anyone listen to them anyway? Anyone?

I have a list of bloggers I avoid. It is small.

Essence of Stout

On sale from next week & perfect for the impending cold spell.

A stout is brewed with plenty of coloured malt to lend a pitch black colour, a full body and a roasty, toasty, chocolate mocca flavour. Oats give it a real smooth texture and this year I'm adding a teeny, tiny bit of vanilla pod, for roundness.

Hops would spoil all this, so we only use them for bittering. If we did use them for flavour it would become an oatmeal porter which is entirely different but worth trying.

80 Shilling Days

I'm brewing it today, even as I write. Well, I've done the hard part, Clive & Strings are busy cleaning up after me.

Everyone drinks hoppy, pale ales these days, and who can blame them? It is a fine and refreshing beer style after all, and the breadth of different sub-styles within the genre is enough to keep anyone interested for, well, quite a long time. However, and I dare not utter this out loud, I'm bored of them, bored bored bored bored bored. So it is with enthusiastic gusto that I'm brewing the very antithesis to IPA - Scottish Export, or 80 /- (shilling) ale.

This one is all about malt, and lots of it. Crystal malt provides a nutty, sweet red background, chocolate malt brings, well, a touch of silky smooth chocolate. Oats for smooth, wholesome goodness; melanoidin for sweet aroma & some amber to dry the palate, lest the sweetness becomes cloying. Oh, and, of course, a minute twist of heavily, heavenly Bruichladdich peated malt to drag us up onto Rannoch Moor once again.

I put a few hops in too, just for balance, and nothing else.

It's cold and damp outside, warm & cosy in. These days are not IPA days, these days are 80/- days.

Yule approaching.

It's fruity (though there's no fruit in it) & a little spicy (and there's none of that in it either) with a good rounded body & a pleasant hoppy flavour. I have attempted to craft a festive character without the usual nuts, fruits & spices (just the usual malted barley, rye & hops) and I think I've done ok. Judge for yourself: the Yule Special is available on draught in good pubs throughout east Kent and direct, from the brewery, for the entire month of December & early January.

Brewing Betrayed

The government reviewed alcohol taxation policy late last year, inviting interested parties to attend discussions at the Treasury and to submit reports accordingly. We were asked what tweaks might be made that would result in lower levels of alcohol abuse.

The BBPA publish a statistical handbook each year which details all kinds of facts and figures. OK, it isn't entirely independent but it must remain credible or it's a waste of resources. So they don't publish bull shit. My mate Wicksie, a man who likes playing with figures, extracted the following:

Data: Since 1997 consumption in litres per head
Beer down 28%
Cider up 60%
Wine up 39%
Spirits up 21%

You'll note that beer, the lowest strength alcoholic drink, is in sharp decline whilst stronger drink consumption is growing er, strongly. So, after consultation, what did the government come up with? High Strength Beer Duty (HSBD). Yup, tax the hell out of Tennants Stupid and don't worry about collateral damage. So beer at 9% abv is now taxed at a higher rate than a 15% wine.

Justine Greening MP, recent incumbent in the Treasury, tells me she doesn't want to penalise the majority of (responsible) drinkers, ie, those fetching bottles of wine from the supermarkets in middle England, returning home to pass out on the couch, far from the Sunday newspaper photographers.

I think this is a class issue and that the government know full well what must be done, but are unwilling to do it.

Meanwhile the poor die. And our indigenous manufacturing industry that is brewing, together with the retail arm that is the pub trade, employing a million people in the UK, is collapsing. My MP doesn't seem to get it, does yours?