You may have noticed an absence of blog through August and most of September. I would like to say this was due to there being no internet access at the tropical beach paradise we decamped to for that period, but it would be a lie. We've all been very busy brewing, selling, delivering, cleaning etc etc. Whilst this is still the case, a few minutes have been found to ramble on in, so here we are.
What happened that period then, I hear you ask. Well, the usual round of brewing - Britannia saw another brief return, we did a couple of 'Western' beers (but not Western Anorak - not yet...), Polar Star saw a return (again), and really does look set to be a 'Fairly Regular' beer. Oatmeal Stout has made a return to the range (it is a winter beer for us), and I have to say it is as good as ever, if not better. Vulcan is the current 4.4% special, a golden-brown best bitter brewed with a Japanese hop variety grown in the USA. And the aforementioned Polar Star is on it's way. Looking a bit ahead, once Polar Star is finished we will be brewing 'Buntingford Witch Project', a beer last brewed when we were in Buntingford (2002, IIRC). Hopefully the name won't be lost on folk... Needless to say the approach of Halloween has prompted this, and whilst we won't even try to match the original beer, the recipe will be much the same (water & yeast excepted).
On the expansion front, things have started to move (slightly) again. Now that we have a Dave working here, we have a much clearer view of demand - we knew it was there, but now we can show it. This means we can approach funding from a wider range of sources, and although the bottling line is still firmly on hold (little real benefit finacially at present), a bigger plant is very much desired and needed.
In other news, the elusive Marsh Harrier re-appeared in early September, with 2 friends. Indeed there may have been a fourth - certainly we have seen one female and two males, and possibly a second female. Whether they had nested locally (Fowlmere?) or were just passing through on migration back to Asia we don't know, but it was to have seen them, albeit only for a few days. We have had our supposed Hobby confirmed by some RSPB-ists, and of late the Buzzards have been enjoying the September sunshine. In fact their calling overhead has given the place a feel of Tolkein's Middle Earth, or maybe we shouldn't have the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy over two nights the week. If I start seeing strange old men with beards, I'll let you know. What we are currently seeing though are Herons flying past (or more likely one with no sense of direction), and it is now open season with the Goldfinches - this morning I got a fly-by twittering from 30-40 of them, all looking very smart in the morning sun. Meanwhile our friendly Robin, who last year seemed happy to fly around in the office if allowed, has this year taken to landing on the roof, and singing into the ridge vents, thus creating the impression he is inside. He even whistles down the chimney into the copper when Catherine is inside it on cleaning duties. Oh how we laugh as we waste time looking for him, before realising his knavish little japes. Mind you, I blame the Pied Wagtails. They're never far away, and I'm sure they are egging him on....
Monday 29 September 2008
It's Turner Prize Time Again...
...And once again we have forgotten to send in our entries - although we did know about in plenty of time, so it's our fault.
This is a real pity, as this year we had some really viable art installations and mass pieces, such as:
Look At What We Have A Pile Of - in which we collect all the spent hops from 3 months brewing, and make a pile of compost in an empty room, that cannot be seen into, leaving the viewer in a quandary as to what is really happening.
Go And Get A Real Job - in which people who work for all those government/local authority funded think tanks, focus groups and consultancies justify their work to terminally ill cancer patients who are denied potentially life-saving treatment by the NHS.
Empathy & Teeth Under Canvas - an installation that sees previous Turner Prize winners encased in plastic & porridge, then placed in a tent full of hungry sharks. At the same time we show a video montage of 'celebrities' climbing through holes in a moving wall, as an example of how Saturday night TV could get even worse. Oh, too late....
Think Trolley, See Trolley. Push Me And See If We All See The Same Thing First & Last. And Other Stupid Phrases That Mean Nothing - this is probably the most daring project, as it sees a woman dressed in nothing but clothes pushing her bank manager around in a supermarket trolley, whilst all around lights flash out the name 'Dale Winton' in morse code, all against a video screen background that portrays a pointless mix moving and still images.
You see, the world may be in financial collapse, there maybe a global wheat shortage, the banks may have lost all our money (well not ours obviously, the government have that) but there is still plenty of Bull to go around, and plenty of money to finance it all. Makes you proud to be a Human, does it n0t....
This is a real pity, as this year we had some really viable art installations and mass pieces, such as:
Look At What We Have A Pile Of - in which we collect all the spent hops from 3 months brewing, and make a pile of compost in an empty room, that cannot be seen into, leaving the viewer in a quandary as to what is really happening.
Go And Get A Real Job - in which people who work for all those government/local authority funded think tanks, focus groups and consultancies justify their work to terminally ill cancer patients who are denied potentially life-saving treatment by the NHS.
Empathy & Teeth Under Canvas - an installation that sees previous Turner Prize winners encased in plastic & porridge, then placed in a tent full of hungry sharks. At the same time we show a video montage of 'celebrities' climbing through holes in a moving wall, as an example of how Saturday night TV could get even worse. Oh, too late....
Think Trolley, See Trolley. Push Me And See If We All See The Same Thing First & Last. And Other Stupid Phrases That Mean Nothing - this is probably the most daring project, as it sees a woman dressed in nothing but clothes pushing her bank manager around in a supermarket trolley, whilst all around lights flash out the name 'Dale Winton' in morse code, all against a video screen background that portrays a pointless mix moving and still images.
You see, the world may be in financial collapse, there maybe a global wheat shortage, the banks may have lost all our money (well not ours obviously, the government have that) but there is still plenty of Bull to go around, and plenty of money to finance it all. Makes you proud to be a Human, does it n0t....
Wednesday 24 September 2008
Grrrrr!
No posts for ages, then I come back really, really, really angry. Oh, yes - and a few more reallys for good measure.
You see someone has raised all the hackles today, and whilst this is not the place to do our dirty laundry, the repercussions need some explaining.
So, basically, because of numerous false accusations, lies, rudeness to our staff, and not being provided with the right information (or any pertinent information for that matter until it was too late) about a local beer competition, we are about to stick two fingers up to supplying future CAMRA beer festivals with our beer. And this is based on our ignoring little snippets of info we hear in the trade that could make us really paranoid if we thought they were true.
Of course all this is a shame for so many reasons (not least of all the majority of hard working volunteers that freely give up their spare time to earn CAMRA more money), but I am sure we will live. There are far bigger concerns in the world of pubs and brewing than us, and if anyone refuses to go to a festival because our beer won't be there then quite frankly they are daft and we want nothing to do with them either. But at least now they'll know why. Well, that and the fact that we aren't able to get beer to 90% of CAMRA festivals anyway... We know this will make no difference to the success of our local festivals, but from our point of view enough is enough. We were happy not to be in the competition (it's not after all the end of the world) or even at the festival, but what has gone on beyond this is too much.
And no more will we say on the matter.
You see someone has raised all the hackles today, and whilst this is not the place to do our dirty laundry, the repercussions need some explaining.
So, basically, because of numerous false accusations, lies, rudeness to our staff, and not being provided with the right information (or any pertinent information for that matter until it was too late) about a local beer competition, we are about to stick two fingers up to supplying future CAMRA beer festivals with our beer. And this is based on our ignoring little snippets of info we hear in the trade that could make us really paranoid if we thought they were true.
Of course all this is a shame for so many reasons (not least of all the majority of hard working volunteers that freely give up their spare time to earn CAMRA more money), but I am sure we will live. There are far bigger concerns in the world of pubs and brewing than us, and if anyone refuses to go to a festival because our beer won't be there then quite frankly they are daft and we want nothing to do with them either. But at least now they'll know why. Well, that and the fact that we aren't able to get beer to 90% of CAMRA festivals anyway... We know this will make no difference to the success of our local festivals, but from our point of view enough is enough. We were happy not to be in the competition (it's not after all the end of the world) or even at the festival, but what has gone on beyond this is too much.
And no more will we say on the matter.
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