Here Is The News.... Pt 1

So much to report, so little time to do so. So here is the first part of a few updates etc, some of which I may expand on in due course...

A Beer A Day is the title of the latest book by Jeff Evans (published by CAMRA), in which he suggests 366 different beers to try over the year, with some historical facts to tie them with. Of course these things are subjective, and we'll all have a different view on the beers included. Of course it is no doubt against some law or other to quote from the book, but I will anyway, on the basis that you should go and buy it - it is a truly fascinating trawl through some interesting history.

Quote number 1: "It's crisp, clean and delightfully easy drinking, with plenty of taste for its modest strength and an enjoyably dry, hoppy finish. As session beers go, this one certainly stands and delivers". The beer? Why, our very own Highwayman IPA of course.

Quote number 2: "...all shored up by 4.4% alcohol and a full malty body to guarantee happy drinking..." And this beer, none other than our Britannia.

Of course for the full praise you'll need to buy the book, but you, like us, will be happy to have done so.

Going Corporate is not something we relish, but after much delay our bottled 92 Squadron is now available in Tesco stores across the western half of East Anglia, and possibly the eastern half as well. Now the supermarkets have come into some criticism of late, much of it justified, for selling cheap alcohol. But here's a twist - we actually get more per pint from Tesco than we do from the pub trade. The extra expense of bottling swallows all this of course, but delivering to pubs is pretty expensive too, and given the fact we are competing with breweries happy to brew very cheaply and sell at cost just to stay in business, it's a tempting market to focus on. We won't of course, because we strongly believe in pubs and their role in supporting a strong sense of community (something sadly lacking these days). Trouble is, as landlords are increasingly starting to believe that price is everything, and quality just a word to speak and write of, it is easy to see the benefits of joining the spiral of destruction that is the cheap alcohol in supermarkets.

To Kill A Lizard is apparently an offence, so it was with some relief that I just missed flattening one with a firkin last week. Now we have a lot of newts up here in our pond, so I can tell the difference, and whilst we see the very occasional lizard, it is usually the newts that venture up to the brewery building seeking somewhere to hibernate (yes, we have already made that connection, but we have not yet seen a staggering newt...). Quite what the lizard was after is anybody's guess, apart from playing chicken with rolling firkins, but he was intent on reaching a pallet of empty Batemans firkins, so maybe he has an understandable liking for their XXXB?