One of the nice things about having my own brewery is that I can brew what I damn well like. Yes, I do have the problem that people might not like what I brew and I'll end up with 350 litres of product I can't sell. Despite what Ann thinks, I can't drink that much all by myself. I mention a beer here and here and here. It went on the bar for the beer festival and it's called Zippy Red IPA, an oxymoronic beer. It's hoppy but not particularly pale by today's standards. I don't care about the colour because it tastes great.
The second cask is sitting on the stillage waiting to go on once something else runs out. Tonight I braved the midges and sat in my beer garden, looking at the interesting cloud formations, and drank a 6.6% hoppy beer that I'd stolen direct from the cellar. What more could a man ask for?
The beer has a strong citrus nose reminiscent of orange zest. There is not as much orange flavour in the body of the beer as I'd like, but it's still bloody good beer. I'm very proud.
Many thanks to Dave for the recipe and Ted for the introduction to West Coast USA style beers. Ted talks about West Coast IPA in casks here.
4 comments:
i enjoy your blog and will continue to read it. i would like to visit your place.
but the elephant in the room here is the reviews about your pub, hotel and you that appear elsewhere on the internet. tripadvisor reviewers are mainly very negative and very detailed. and all reports suggest your pub is very empty, so how do you sell real ale?
i cannot help feeling the place is being misrepresented to us
Elephant, some pubs are in centres of population where supplies and staff are easy to get. Some are in nice modern or refurbished buildings. Many supply a service that has a broad but bland appeal.
We are none of these things. We have a large old building in the middle of nowhere. We offer a service that does not appeal to all and we don't intend it to. We have many days when the pub is very empty due to it's remote location. We also have days when it is very busy.
The big old building has lots wrong with it which we'd like to fix, but Rome wasn't built in a day.
We offer a service that is different for people that are looking for something different.
I suspect the people who are looking for coca cola clouds and a big mac sun will probably not like us and post appropriately. When they find us quiet, when it rains for instance, it gives them the confidence to say that we are doing something wrong.
We're not perfect, and probably never will be.
You could also look here
Further to the question of selling real ale. A pub only needs to sell 2 pints an hours during a 12 hour opening period to be able to sell a firkin in three days.
Say 6 people in a pub drink a pint each every half hour. That's 12 pints per hour. We can loose 6 people in our big building and a further person comes in without even knowing they are there. Real Ale is the least of our worries.
Glad the IPA turned out well for you Dave!! Hope it sells well.
Enjoy!!
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