Stunning Craft Beer from the Western Lakes

Oh, and the launch of;

Juxta Beer - 1.9% position; low ABV craft

We don't make as much of a deal out of the fact that we are located in a stunning part of the world as we should. Indeed, I think our side of the The Lake District is far more stunning than any other part of our national park. All that twee Beatrix Potter stuff is all very well, and Wordsworth did do some fine poetry, it's true, but nothing beats the majesty of my favourite valley, Wasdale. Our part of the world is what I class as the real Lake District.


Stunning Craft Beer - Juxta from Hardknott Brewery on Vimeo.

It was also an opportunity to serve our brand new experimental low ABV beer, Juxta Beer 1.9%. What could be better than climbing a mountain to find a nice pint of refreshing, thirst quenching beer at the top?

We set up the bar, using a pile of stones, called a cairn, to locate the tap. We did this at a place called Sprinkling Tarn, which is just below the 2000ft mark above sea level.

We had worried about the problem of being responsible for creating drunks on the mountain. I was quite sure my friends in the Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team would take a dim view of the safety aspect of strong beer on the mountains. It is a good job we did behave so responsibly, as the leader of the team happened to drop by when we were there. He seemed to enjoy his pint.

To the best of our knowledge, for one day, we created the highest Craft Beer Bar in the UK. Clearly we had no licence to sell beer, so we had to give it away. One group of gents were so pleased they emailed us with a picture.

What was amusing on the day was the fact that as the people we'd served passed other walkers who were approaching, they were obviously telling of our strategic bar. Unfortunately we didn't get reactions on camera, but some were definitely in the "Well we heard the rumours, but just thought they were playing a practical joke on us!"

We're starting to send Juxta Beer out in cask this week. The first load is going to Cask Pub and Kitchen. Bottles will follow on soon. Look out for it, I think it's a good low strength beer. Stunning, even.

The KeyKeg setup

The team
Left to right; Alfie Bailey, Dave Bailey, Scott Larrabee,
Laura Larrabee, Stuart Roche

The Sprinkling Tarn Bar Punters