January and dampness

Well, here we are, 2016, don't the years fly? The last of our "children" have now grown up, surpassing the age of 18 just before Christmas. All have passed driving tests and all have some sort of career at least vaguely mapped out. Into the New Year and everyone seems to exude a mood of reflection, and those of us with an optimistic mind, a look to the future.

The evenings are noticeably moving lighter. Indeed, a fascination of mine is that the sunrise time actually got to its earliest around 12th December, rather than the midwinter date of 22nd December (at 04:44 if you are interested) The great thing about this is that by the time we get to early January sunset is moving later by several minutes per week and by the end of January by nearly quarter of an hours a week, or very close to an hour a month. By contrast the sunrise time hasn't even really started to get earlier yet, meaning mornings are still a bit depressing.

The above considerations are what helps me to get through what could otherwise be a difficult month. We've had all the fun of Christmas and New Years celebrations. To some extent, it does make me wonder how we'd cope with the dark nights if we didn't do something, despite the fact that I often cringe at the demands society seems to layer on us to conform, and part with money in a frankly unnecessary way.

For us brewers it is a time to take stock¹ and look towards the future. What do we have left ready to sell, what do we need to brew to keep going and what should we brew that is new? And of course I have to say something about Dry January.

Supporters of beer, ho partake of the dubiousness of Dry January, often point to that fact that we have just had Christmas and so we brewers will now be rolling in money. Now, you might think that this is churlish to reject that notion, but every year I look at our overall position and think "So, for all that effort, we did that little?" - personally, the dearth of trade in January is by no means compensated for by Christmas, at least not from out point of view. The most poignant indicator is the bottle sales into our major retail customers, which we measure quite carefully, and I can report that overall sales have if anything been slightly down in the run-up to Christmas compared to Summer.

I'd like to explain a few things that I think are effects causing this. Firstly, most people are living it up at office parties, house parties and family get togethers. Most drinkers go with the flow. Very few of the general public care about being too snobby about what they drink when in larger social settings. Whether it be cask beer, or premium bottle ale, or craft beer if you like, then mostly this is not what is consumed during the festive season². People are buying bulk, piling their trolleys high with all sorts of goodies, but it seems to me that the majority of the extra sales are in slabs of lager, John Smiths or whatever. Craft beer seems to not go through the peak we might expect.

So, Christmas isn't as wonderful to us as you might think. Couple that with the fact that Cumbria's hospitality trade is significantly seasonal, with by my estimates of an additional 150,000³ people in the county during the peak months compared to about 500,000 permanent residents. Of these extra 150,000 people many increase their consumption of alcohol when on holiday, and often they enjoy sampling the local beers. Add to that the very wet December we have had, which we certainly believe has damaged trade in our part of the world, even though Hardknott itself has not been directly hit by floods. Cumbria in general, and local brewing in particular needs you the beer drinker more than ever.

I can't leave a discussion about January without the brewer's two biggest headaches associated with the seasonality of brewing. There is the first, that of cash-flow. Beer is a low margin beverage. It might well be that you, the beer drinker, thinks that the raw materials the go into beer are low-cost. And to some extent this is true⁴, but overall it is fairly expensive to make, loans to buy stainless steel, energy costs, labour (we employ people you know, good people at that) insurance, transport and of course duty. Keeping the show on the road during the difficult months is no mean feat. Any benefit of December, and the tight margins we see, do not make up for the deficit in January. We still need to pay rent, rates, staff wages snd various other overheads.

The second problem we have is yeast. We have been very successfully propagating our own yeast now for about 18 months. Prior to this we were using a combination of dried yeast and less than successful short-term purchased wet yeast which we were propagating until it failed. We now have a yeast strain trained to do what we want it to do. After our brewing staff, Scott and Sarah, our yeast is arguably our most valuable living asset. Indeed, even that comparison might be doubtful, and I suspect even Scott and Sarah might agree there. Keeping yeast going needs a brewing schedule⁵, and this schedule is not easy to keep going through dearth and surfeit cycles. We manage and train our yeast with careful selection and storage of croppings and often have more than two lines going at any one time.

As we move forward into 2016 we are looking at our next steps, how develop the Hardknott concept. We've come a long way in the 10 years we've been brewing but we think we still have more to offer the beer world. It is easy to get bogged down in the post Christmas blues, and despite Dryanuray nonsense, which I'm sure would only serve to increase a sense of loss and actually promotes binge activities⁶, I want to look forward positively and enthusiastically.

I knew this piece would turn into an attack on the concept of Dry January before I started writing it. I know that many people have their own reasons for deciding to enter into the practice, and I know some of you drink Hardknott beer. There is then a danger that I'll upset a few people that genuinely support Hardknott 11 months of the year. This is the reason I started with the fact that daylight is returning in the evenings. This is a positive and can be used to look with optimism to the future, which is in direct contrast in my mind to the removal of all fun that post festivities can represent.

Dry January? I do hope their is less rain, for sure, December was very wet. We could do very much with you all turning a concept on its head and helping to drink January dry.

So, here's to 2016, I'll be having a beer tonight, and a few on Saturday if nothing else. Whatever you do in January I hope you enjoy it, I'm looking forward to seeing the sky lighten every night, and indeed a steady improvement in a surprisingly linear way, as a result of the Equation of Time, right through to June, and moreover, keeps the evenings better right through from late December right through to September.

Happy New Year to everyone.

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¹Indeed, an opening stock take is important to start the New Year.

²Yes, I know mostly those of you that read this blog might well be a bit choosy. You may well take along beers of your own choice to that family get-together. But it is interesting, and with apologies to the very well meaning person should they read this, I remember a hurried trip to an off licence with a new partner of a family member to get the beers in. Dropping off said person whilst waiting in a less than ideal parking place. Returning to the car with the claim "I just got Stella, everyone likes that"

³This is based on some fairly crude assumptions. I'd love to get more reliable data, but this would cost me money to obtain. However, there are approximately 19.5 million visitor nights per year. That equates to an extra 53,000 people staying per night if averages across the year. However, "serviced" accommodation occupancy roughly doubles in peak months (~40% in January compared to ~80% in August) and self catering, camping and caravan accommodation roughly quadrupling (15-20% in January compared to 65-80% in August) besides, it feels much busier in August - these figures are taken from https://www.cumbriatourism.org/what-we-do/research/

⁴Raw materials can in fact make up a very tiny proportion of the costs associated with brewing beer. Even at Hardknott, where we think we spend quiet a lot on hops, our raw materials are about halve the value of the beer duty. I shudder to think what the ratio of raw materials to beer duty is in a macro-brewed beer, where duty is twice what we pay and they skimp to death the raw material bill.

⁵Yeast works best if it can be cropped from one beer and pitched right on into the next beer. Wet yeast can be stored, perhaps for as much as 2 weeks if you are careful, but it's viability drops scarily low.

⁶You see, for most people I meet who claim to be doing Dry January, it seems to mainly to make themselves feel better due to excessiveness of the festive season. Personally, I would prefer everyone just balanced their lifestyle all year round. Drink great, flavoursome beer, all year, and in appropriate amounts with perhaps some dry days mid week. Alcohol Concern seem to be generating an effect that supports binging to excess in December on mostly crap drinks because it is OK, you can all "detox" in January.

s'pose I'd better

All the beer bloggers are doing it, I really don't feel that I can miss out, I'll have to do some sort of seasonal review of how I saw the year. It's not a bad idea really, it's the first full calendar year that I've been writing this blog so it's reasonable to have a go at summarising the year as I see it. It's certainly been an interesting year. Mind you, I could say that about every one of the 44 years I've been around, but not all of them I could look back on with quite the same sense of achievement.

I did consider using Mark's template, but to choose the very best proved to be quite difficult. I don't really like choosing my "best of" anything. I'd have to take it far too seriously as I'd be afraid of missing a real gem. Also, things are different, not necessarily better or worse. I hate missing anything out that is good, and the same is true of people. For this reason I am not even going to try and highlight my favourite blogger or twitterer or the best beer or brewery, you are all very special to me. I feel especially guilty due to the mentions I've had in several other blogs this year, so all I can do is apologise for not joining in with that little game.

This time last year I was in Oregon, USA, staying with my friend Ted Sobel. He's not featured much on here for a while, but I believe his Anglo-American brew pub concept is doing well. Ted is a lover of cask beer and there is very little of it out in his part of the world. Apparently I'm partly to blame for his mad idea of setting up a brewpub in some remote town called Oakridge in the Willamette Valley. Apart from it being great to see what Ted had created out there, it was also the first time in five years we'd been away from our own place for more than a week. The whole experience and ability to relax is one thing that has kept me going for the last 12 months. I know I've only scratched the surface of the area when it comes to beer. I will be returning, but probably not next year.

This time last year I had only met a few people from the beer writing world. A couple of bloggers, a couple of professional writers and a handful of industry people. I didn't know last Christmas where this blogging thing was going, or what I'd carry on writing about, if I'd run out of ideas or who on earth would be interested in what I wrote. Throughout the year the base readership has grown, I've met many people including other bloggers, many more beer writers from other antiquated media, a few celebrities and a whole load of brewers and other trade people. I worry that I'll lose interest at some time, as I've seen it happen to others, or that more pressing issues will take me away from the keyboard, but I'll keep blogging until that seems to happen.

During the year I've seen new bloggers come and I've seen one or two drop away. The overall beer blogging scene seems to be going from strength to strength. I'm still excited that this medium, that anybody can join, is growing into something which attracts the attention of a wide audience and although beer bloggers haven't yet struck a mass media worthy mention, other bloggers have and it's only a matter of time. I've also now got many friends in the beer blogging world, the comradeship is delightful and I hope I can continue to improve my contribution to that. I'd mention some here but I think it would be completely unfair to miss anybody. I don't get to read as many of the blogs as I'd like to, there are so many. Keep it going guys.

Of course there is the Award I achieved with the Guild of Beer Writers for this blog, I'm still very pleased about that. I have to consider what to do next now that I feel I have at least proved my writing has some sort of provenance. I want to continue in this medium but also I want to explore the possibility of printed media. I have to work out what to do there as I know I have to do the legwork. I have some projects in embryonic stages of planning, but I need to look more carefully at the next stage.

Beers, well, I choose not to do any sort of listing of my years best beers. I don't keep notes on beers and although I'd class myself as a ticker in some ways, I'd much prefer to enjoy my beer drinking experience than make substantial notes on every beer. I have drunk many more different beers this year than perhaps at any other time in my life. I have been introduced to beers that break out from the normal pub style session beers. Not that I don't like the session beer anymore and the vast majority of beer that I drink still comes into that category. I have fallen in love with more styles of beer, that's all. I hope to continue to explore the beer world in this way. Perhaps then I will look out for next years winners during the course of the coming 12 months.

My own brewing is getting better. I've got lots still to learn and I don't think that'll ever stop. I need to perfect the bottling of my beers; I'm not happy with that yet. I want to explore different styles of beers and possibly look at producing some interesting beers by developing my experimental brews of this year. I need to think about how the brewing is going to evolve and how I can fit that in with everything else I do, but I'd like to look at increasing capacity at some point in time.

Our time in the pub seems to be maturing. For the first time we seem to be capable of getting through the winter without exceeding normal credit limits. We seem to have made the place at least a little bit profitable. Takings are up a little and we're more efficient by cutting out some of the none profitable services. To do that in a year when the overall economic situation seems dire we must be doing something right.

Finally, I must thank a few people. Quite apart from the hospitality extended by beer friends everywhere, be they brewers, publicans, writers or just beer drinkers, there are some people who connect with my day to day world of this pub. There are the pub staff team during the year, this years team have been very helpful and loyal.

Jeff Pickthall deserves a special mention for encouraging my writing and for persuading me to get my arse to the GBBF and the Guild dinner along with pointing out several must try beers and pushing my brewing in interesting directions.

Without customers I would not have a business. I'm very grateful to the building customer base that understands what we are trying to do here. It's interesting developing a concept which is unusual and defies some base cultural doctrine that surrounds the pub industry. It was a punt going in the direction we've gone and it's starting to pay off. It would never happen without customers. Some special mentions are worthy in this respect. Lucinda and James drive over from County Durham just to have a drink and a meal, that's dedication. Rex and Jackie refuse to be barred, I tried, but they keep coming back. The Sheriff has worn out at least one tankard since we came here, although I hasten to add not just in our pub. Ivan and Chris are regular visitors and we have to make sure there is a stock of matured Blue Bore Bombs especially for them. Our dragon fly photographer and Mildly Complex lover is always a joy to have stay. Reuben, wife and friends helped us to stay sane when our lovably eccentric Washy visited and drank me dry of Zippy Red and allowed Lucy to adulterate Tokyo* with lemonade.

None of this would be possible without my patient partner Ann. She puts up with my inability to think about anything else when I'm writing this blog. She drives me home from various beer explorations normally without very much complaint and even manages to stay awake in the pub occasionally whilst I'm researching the beer.

It leaves me to thank all the readers of my blog. Without you popping in, there would be no point in me writing this. I used to write technical documents that were put in a file, just in case. I detest writing for nobody. There are plenty of activities I could do for my own enjoyment, writing is not one of them, it only makes sense to me as a way of communicating my thoughts to other people. Thank you for sticking with me this year and I hope you had a good Christmas and that next year brings you much success in whatever you choose to do.

Most of all I hope you enjoy lots of beer this New Years Eve, where ever you are, and remember to enjoy it all responsibly, until the point you fall over that is.

When winter

As our visitors make their last ditch efforts to enjoy what might be left of the summer, we have to start thinking about the winter. I have a good idea about the minimum amount of money I would need to take over the bar in order to cover the extra costs of being open over being closed. When the sun shines, during the season, the bad days generally outweigh the good ones. So far this month we seem to have done well with sales per day outperforming August. But it has been hard work.

Without doing the detailed analysis I think we've done all right this year. Not bad after a grotty summer and considering the overall gloom and doom in the economy. Reigning in the overheads during the winter months should see us survive another year without bankruptcy looming.

In a few weeks time the weather will deteriorate and the footfall will reduce. I expect by the end of October I will be questioning the sense in being open mid week. For this reason we close mid week in November and will be closed fully during December and January. The trade will be non existent for most of that time. We will open up again at the start of February, again just at weekends and will be open fully by March. During the quieter months we'll grab a bit of a holiday and work like mad on decorating and finishing various projects on the place.

If you are clever you might well ask about the Christmas break. Do we not open then? Well, the last three years we haven't. We worked out that to enable us to do so we would have to retain seasonal staff, who actually don't really want to be here, just for a few hundred pounds extra takings. The effect on the bottom line is negligible. For the last three years we have been closed.

To stock up, estimate the number of casks to tap and vent, prep food and minimise waste is tricky for such a short period as the Christmas Holidays. Besides, do we not deserve one festivity off a year?

We've pondered opening for a part of the New Year break, perhaps for discerning guests. I wondered if a beer blogging and twittering type 3 day New Year "party" might be an idea. With luck, the type of people I'm thinking would enjoy the experience might well put up with a slightly reduced standard of service due to our inevitable core staff team. The deal might be a dinner bed and breakfast break and to minimise wastage for our kitchen a buffet style dinner each night, no choice but a selection of dishes for everybody to tuck into and try a bit of everything. Of course, it'll be to our usual standard.

I need to brew soon. I'm thinking of doing a big double imperial stout, or something similar at around 8%. It would be ready for the New Year. Any further ideas on brews to try would be appreciated, although strong would be the aim, I need something I can store for the spring. I would of course have something more sensible for the confirmed pint drinkers.

Anyway, that's the idea. Any takers out there?