Beer Range Varies...

Now any of you who are devotees of The Ale, and readers of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, will now what I mean when I say the holy grails of all those listed pubs are the ones where it states 'Beer Range Varies'. So in a pub this is a good thing. In a brewery though it is a bad thing. Now some breweries never seem to do the same beer twice, and that is fine. But when all is said and done, most drinkers like to be conservative in their tipple, so to get anywhere as a brewery you must offer a core range. Now ours was simple - Challenger, Britannia, Pargeter, plus the likes of Night Owl, Silence & Royston Red to be rotated through as allowed. Come Highwayman though, this has all changed.

So now Night Owl & Pargeter have been relegated to the back of the cupboard, the recipe to be dusted off just occasionally. Britannia has been relegated as well, through no fault of it's own - it just wasn't as big a seller as Challenger or Highwayman are. Royston Red has come forward somewhat, but that has meant Silence has had to go backwards a bit. And now, to cap it all, some muppet has not only recently allowed 92 Squadron to reappear, but also Royston Pale Ale as well. The 92 went very quickly, and we are now seeing cries for more, and I suspect the Pale Ale will go equally well, when it is released in about 10 days time. And God alone knows how we will fit those two in.

So this weeks challenge is to come up with a flyer that is relevant for more than 36 hours, but shows more than one beer. And once that is done, it will be time to have words with the aforementioned muppet responsible for this mess. Well, that muppet is me, and I will, rest assured dear reader, give myself a stern talking to over a pint of something that we can't guarantee to keep available permanently, if at all. I think our graphic designer is probably going to want words as well. No sooner has he done a new design for these dusted off beers, than it's too late because we've sold it all, and we find him something else to draw. It'll probably drive him to drink.

Twelve Days Of Easter

Whoah, twelves days since the last post? Good heavens and all that. Of course we have been really busy, although I have to say there is an element of 'I'll write a another blog later' behind the twelve day hiatus!

So what have we been doing? Well, brewing obviously, and all that goes with it. A few days off over Easter as well, which was nice, and the chance to show members of the Huntingdonshire branch of CAMRA round our premises. Of course most breweries offer tours, and as we mostly do much the same thing, it can no doubt get a bit tedious. But we try and offer a relaxed, informal visit, with no big sell or time constraints. And on a nice day it all ends in a chance to sit outside and drink. Which is I guess the most important part.

Easter is traditionally the time when the pub trade awakes from it's post Christmas winter slumber, and so is when we see beer sales climb. Oddly, we hadn't really seen a fall after Christmas, partly due to a few large beer festival supply gigs, but mostly through the hard work of our new(ish) sales rep, Nick - helped of course though by the beer! So we are now looking at ways of keeping up with increased sales, and so the spectre of expansion & investment hovers around our thoughts at present. We are very lucky in that we have a kindly, and keen, landlord, who has a spare barn or three - so space is not an issue - and indeed we can expand without moving the brewplant, which of course avoids breaks in production. So a bigger cellar beckons, along with more casks, and some conditioning tanks - and even a couple of lagering tanks.

Growth is part and parcel of any business, but even so it can be a nerve wracking issue. Do we just do enough do meet expected demand over the next couple of years - it will be cheaper, but a short-term fix, or do we play a long game - go for plenty of spare capacity to grow into, but at a higher initial cost. It's a tough call to make, and we think we have found a middle ground that will provide the space at the start, but without plenty of tanks & casks from the start.

Looking even further ahead, thoughts are turning towards pub ownership. But for now, it's all a plan, worked over and over to get the figures right. And all done whilst looking out on this green & pleasant location we work in. Sometimes life really is great.