It's quiet here now. The pub is in winter mode which means we don't open during the week. Hardknott pass is closed for repairs and in any case traffic along the road averages about one car per hour outside the summer season.
But still, there seems to be lots to do. I'm brewing today, a beer with an O.G. of around 1100, I hope. Needs many hours of boiling which will no doubt result in small but inevitable increased shrinking of the polar ice caps. Sorry penguins and polar bears.
I'm also starting to look at the options for selling beers in bottles mail order. Don't get too excited, it's very early stages just yet, I've got a bit of work to do before that happens. Quite apart from actually brewing the beer and the time it takes to bottle, I also have to explore various commercial difficulties such as economic and reliable ways of shipping from this far flung corner of the globe.
Last weekend we had another very successful wedding. I'm going to have to explore further how we promote that little addition to our repertoire. It's just something else to work into a long overdue revamp of our marketing and branding. If I get bored and we get a spell of fine weather, and yes it does happen even in Cumbria, we've got lots of outside painting to do. When it's raining we've got stuff to fix up inside too. So there, that's my excuses for reduced blog posting.
Hopefully I'll get a little bit of time to write next week; I hope so as I miss it. Meanwhile you can have a look at my second post as guest blogger for the BitterSweet partnership. I'd be interested in knowing what the reader thinks of what I've said or maybe more generally about the BitterSweet project.
That's all for now. Better go back and see if my copper has exploded yet.
11 comments:
I'll have a pint of Granite please landlord!
Washy
Here's an idea for a beer name for you: "Penguin's Peril".
NO NO NO. What am I saying?
Now Washy a whole pint? You'd get stoned.
Sounds like an amazing beer. Perhaps when the beer is ready you could post some food matching notes? I have read your food matching notes with great interest as it is a area in which Brewing could really expand.
I was going to reply to this in some detail, but the more I think about, the more I feel inclined to blog on it instead.
For the moment though, I disagree that Belgium is the best example for women beer drinkers and I think Bittersweet have got quite a few things wrong.
There - that's a start and now it has stopped raining, I feel like a pint of mild!
have you looked at mybrewerytap.com for selling the beer
DunnAle, I would like to do more about food and beer matching. The wort from the trial brew I did today tasted great. Dried out in fermentation with some fruity esters added and I've got great hopes for it.
Tandleman, I think you do need to do a post on BitterSweet. I know you have views on the subject and I'm interested to hear them.
Stu, thanks, I am currently looking at PayPal shop maker but this is another option.
Hi Dave, Kristy from BitterSweet.
Thanks again for another really interesting post this week.
Tandleman - would be really interested to know your thoughts on BitterSweet, what you think we've got wrong and how you think we could encourage more women to drink beer. You'd be very welcome to come and write your views over on our site
Dave -- re: marketing your pub as a venue for weddings, where do you currently advertise? A couple of well placed and probably cheap ads in the right off-beat publications could be the trick to expanding that side of your business.
Or find an angle to turn it into a news story and get it covered in the local press (easier than people think -- they're mad for free content, and will often stick a well written press release straight in their papers without changing a word).
Bailey, good ideas, thanks.
Incidentally, the happy couples dog is called Bailey. Good name I think.
The cultural objections to women drinking beer are absent here. We sell many a pint to the lasses.
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