Fresh Stuff

We've new stock from our mates in Sussex, Somerset & London Town. It's classy stuff you know.

We've picked these up along the way so there's no transport costs, or middlemen, or any other unnecessary premium on the price; they're terribly good value.

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This week's promotion runs until 1pm Saturday, the 5th of June. Moor, Dark Star & Kernel - 4 for the price of 3 (least expensive free). It's the perfect chance to get acquainted with these micro-heroes.

Barely wine

Now then, remember the barley wine tutorial? Well, after sitting on a bed of spicy English Bramling Cross hops for a couple of weeks I transferred the young ale onto a bed of the strangest variety of hops known to brewers, the recently developed NZ Nelson Sauvin. The resultant concoction, now bottled and on sale, is just about one of the craziest brews I've made to date.


And I'm very pleased to announce that the Beer Merchants are trading our ale on-line so get yer credit card out and spend, spend, spend for the good times just keep on rolling on.

Sizzling Summertime Special Stock

Welcome to Steve, our latest recruit. He's taken over responsibility for the foreign beer we stock in the Shop. As a result, the range has begun to expand, branching out a tad as we lay down store for the coming, gloriously sunny, Kent months.

It's particularly good to see La Chouffe on the shelves, both the blonde and the Dobbelen IPA Triple. This mad little brewery in deepest Belgium was a cult favourite in the bars across Den Haag a few years back and I've personally enjoyed one or two splendidly late nights in its company. It's a wonderfully spicy and unique style of beer.


The Trappist Brewers have long been represented here by Orval but now others have come to join us from Rochefort, Achel and Westmalle. These brewers consistently attain the loftiest heights on the quality ladder and their beers are nothing short of legendary.

In total contrast we've also shipped Kriek, Framboise and Fruli - fruit beers to delight anyone on a hot day.

There's more besides: Brugges Zot for instance. A beer I've not yet tried but have been assured of it's credentials.


Since we have so many newcomers (beer and staff) we thought we'd crack a few bottles open this Saturday (13th June) lunchtime so we can give 'em a proper tasting (the beer). And since the beers are many, and we, reletively few, there'll be plenty to go round so come up and join in, around 1pm. Steve promised to provide a perfunctuary lunch and a running comentary. Sounds more fun than weeding the allotment anyway. See you Saturday.

In search of Number One

Remember the barley wine we made last month? And how we split the gyle to create two distinct beers, one well hopped and the other barrel aged? You do? Then you'll also recall I named it 'Gadds' Number One' - well that was an unfortunate premature designation ("it's never happened before") since I've changed my mind. We're bottling the well hopped version this morning and it's a fairly fulsome taste-bud blowing beer, so way out that it doesn't fit its initial moniker - I think we'll call it 'Oooks'. (Take some time to think about that).

And I've just had a tasting of the barrel aged version with the Beer Merchant - 'awesome' was the considered verdict and who am I to disagree with such a broadly travelled beer expert? We'll be bottling that this coming week too and it ought to be on the shelves by mid-May. Lovely. But an oaky vinous barley wine Gadds' Number One ain't; our style is largely straightforward and since both these beers are heavily complex neither is a true reflection of who we are.

So the hunt for Gadds' Number One continues unabated.

GADDS' Number 3 - Best Kentish Beer

An ecstatic Summer Gadd celebrates the brewery's success before school this morning.

The Ramsgate Brewery won a coveted TOKA at last night's award ceremony held at Leeds Castle, following last year's 'Best Kent Brewery' award with 'Best Kentish Beer' ('Best Beer of Kent').

In a closely contested final, GADDS' Number 3 beat Shepherd Neame's Spitfire Ale and Chapel Down's Brut to emerge victorious.

Many thanks to everyone who voted on-line to get us to the final; if you show up at the brewery over the next 7 days and mutter 'TOKA' I'll make sure you get a free bottle.

Ancestors Whisky Cask Porter

I made a strong brown beer last year and left it in some Islay whisky casks for 50 days. The aroma is all peat and smoke and wood and whisky. The flavour starts off as whisky before mellow ale takes over, occassionally displaying hops and finishing with wood and peat.

It was my first attempt and it is ready for sale, from the brewery, in small bottles.

Come and try some, sitting down.

Yule Stock In

As the Yule holidays approach you may be planning big meals and family feasts, looking for something a little special to serve, searching for the ideal drink to delight and surprise. Matching moments and meals to drinks is great fun - really. Remember when that meant having to serve fizzy wine as an aperitif, white wine with fish, red with meat and sweet with sweet? All that has changed - now you can choose from a vast array of styles and strengths of beer, each presenting its own unique flavour contribution to the enjoyment of your meal.

It just so happens that I have here in my shop a range of beers ideally suited to various organoleptic tasks. Allow me to make some suggestions:

Classic aperitifs: we have gueuze from Boon and Girardin for lovers of the tart, sour style. If your preference is fruitier I'd point you towards the Framboise (raspberry) and Kriek (cherry) from the same breweries. Keeping it local, you'd favour of course Gadds' # 3 Pale Ale. I myself will be serving De Molen's Amerikaans, a 4.5% highly hopped (but not bitter) pale ale from the Menno in the low countries and Orval, brewed in heaven.

Fish dish: Saison Dupont is hard to beat but I'll be serving Blanche du Hainaut with a little oak smoked salmon.

White meats: if you didn't serve Kriek as an aperitif, now's the time to crack a bottle open - intense, tart, cherry fruit flavour would work better than any cranberries. Alternatively, the more subtle, classy Guldenberg would sit nicely alongside.

Red meats: unapologetically powerful Batch One, from Denmark, has a place on any red meat lovers table but I'll be serving 'No Tomorrow' with our mushroom/nut roasty thing.

Pudding: Banatana would be fun with vanilla ice-cream, though we'll be having Dogbolter Christmas Pudding and it would be rude not to serve Dogbolter with it. You might prefer any of the strong stouts I have here, including the wonderful Amager Imperial Stout, Dark Star's IPRS or Midtfyns Imperial Stout.

Post prandial: why not kick back with a glass of De Molen's Turfbock or Bloed, Zweet & Tranen and enjoy the parlour games with a grin on your face? I will.

All these beers are great served in wine glasses at the table and sufficiently tasty for you not to need a lot. More versatile, and much more affordable than wine, beer is the best accompaniament to food, any day.

Come down to the shop, mention this blog and along with an expertly crafted Yule selection to suit your particular gastro-needs I'll knock 10% off - valid until 25th December, 2008.

Can't say fairer than that.

Tasting Tomorrow

I haven't said much for the last couple of weeks - a combination of nothing to say and no time to say it. I've got a bit of time now, but still nothing to say really.

Except to invite you down to the shop tomorrow (Saturday) for a sneak 'tester' of Jonny's Stout and my IPA.

Anytime around midday.

No obligation - just come along and tell me what you think....

All Tomorrow's IPA's

In October every year we take stock of our annual supply of Kentish hops. Their's is a long journey from field to picking shed to packing shed to pocket. Then sampled and shipped to merchants, repacked (in handy, air tight mini-bales for year round freshness) and reshipped to GADDS'. We pay up front and store the lot cold just to ensure we get what we need, and get what we want.

And to celebrate this little stashing we take our pick from the two remaining olde English varieties, Fuggles & East Kent Goldings, and shove exuberant armfuls into a strong pale ale. The idea is to create a fairly extreme ale whose flavour is almost entirely formed from the hops, all the better to assess the season with. Hops go in the copper (early, late & last), the fermenter (shhh) and the maturation tank. After two months it is bottled (with a little saved for cask) and further matured until March whilst names are dreamt up and labels designed and printed. It's our very best vintage ale.


The 2007 Vintage is crafted from Goldings and tops 8% abv, with a gorgeous hop'n'alcohol aroma, powerful bitterness, delicate flavour and a light sweetness that will dry over the coming year - hoptastic in a thoroughly classy English way.

It's the kind of ale you'd drink while dining on venison, quail or pheasant (quorn versions, obviously) and I'm going to sell it to fine restaurants in the hope of reversing the current trend for wine. Back in the 19th century most fine ale was even fuller, more powerful and aged for far longer than today and there was little need for much wine.

..Yesterday's beer today because there is No Tomorrow..

I'm going to make a Burton Ale next year I think.

Black Pearl Oyster Stout - 6.2%

You may have noticed that I've been developing a bit of a thing for Stouts over the last two years; ever since we moved into our pysonshed (and the first brew was Exodus Stout) I've been developing a keen pallet for the stuff and an ability to find excuses (customers) to make it in any of its styles. Well three then (styles that is): Strong, Oatmeal & Oyster. The later has lately come into condition and I'm sat 'testing' one or two bottles to see if it works....

[Pours with a tight & light tan head and gorgeous near-black body. Roasty aroma, creamy roasty/chocco/mocco fruitless flavour & rich mouthfeel. Bitterness lasts and lasts. Begs for more.. and gets it!]

It'll be on sale in a couple or three weeks time when I get some labels from the printers.

I mashed just pale malt and roasted barley a tad cooler than usual (it is dry in style) and bittered well with Fuggles - the house favourite for dark ales. I maintain the trick with stouts is to use your hops solely at the start of the boil allowing the bitterness and mouthfeel but not the flavour of them to come through. This lets you taste the grainy roasted barley flavours cleanly: try a Dogbolter next to a Black Pearl and you'll get the idea.

The inspiration for this brew came from Jonny the Fish and I'm hoping to taste some more, along with a bit of seafood, tomorrow evening. If that goes well, I'm hoping he'll sell it in his not-yet-finished fancy restaurant.

In the meantime, do please waddle up to the shop and demand a taster to see for yourself.

Information: No Oysters were harmed during the production of this stout.

Testing Times

The recent cool spell has played havock with my bottle conditioning. You see yeast is a lazy beast really and won't get out of bed if the temperature drops below 12 deg C, as it has done for the last few weeks in the Brewery. Rather than try and keep the Brewery heated I took all the beer out of the cold store and left it out (plenty cool enough), turned the cooler off and put a heater, together with a few pallets of freshly bottled ale back in.

After a 'testing' weekend, I can confirm this tactic did the trick.

When they're properly ready with posh labels you'll be the first to know - why I might even invite you round to help me carry out the final 'checks'.

Gadds' faithful Dogbolter Porter

Brewed in a similar manner to the bottled Number 3 by 'dry hopping' and lagering before reseeding, priming and bottling. The dry hopping maturation phase adds a resinous hoppiness to the mouthfeel and produces a more intense flavour. Go here for the Dogbolter story and here to learn more about bottle conditioning.

It's surprisingly good with curry and really hits the spot at the end of a hard days night.

5.6% ABV
500 ml
£2/bottle
£20/dozen

Gadds' Number 3 Pale Ale

Brewed to the same recipe as the cask version but with a 'lagering' period on a bed of Kentish hops for three weeks, this beer is then 'reseeded' with yeast and 'primed' with a little fermentable material (beer or pure sugar) and 'bottle conditioned'.

The result is a lively and intensely hoppy and refreshing pale ale and, like a good curry, it's not just for breakfast.

5% ABV
500ml
£2/bottle
£20/dozen