Azimuth storms several wins at SIBA

Winning awards is something that brings real pleasure to a brewery. When you've worked, as a team, to build the quality and consistency of the beers to a height that you believe is worthy of an award, it is satisfying to get confirmation from the judges. Yesterday was something of a triumph for Hardknott.

There are a few things I like about the SIBA awards, but one of the main things is that the judges, by and large, are industry people and brewers from other regions. There are obvious controls in place to ensure no one associated with the beers are judging them, and there is tight control around the double blind systems¹.

Equally, the beers presented are what the brewer wants to show off. It's a frustration I have with CBOB, for instance, that we seem to fail to even get off the ground, despite obviously having simply top-class beers.

But never mind, at the North West SIBA competition, running off the back of The Bolton Beer Festival, we won a few awards. To say we are delighted would be a huge understatement. I think the SIBA awards, although less well known, are far more prestigious. By the industry, for the industry.

Anyway, Azimuth got Gold in the strong bitters and pale ale small pack category, netting us a swanky glass trophy. It then went on to win Bronze overall in the small pack section². This ensures we will be in the National SIBA final at BeerX.

Nuclear Sunset gained Bronze in speciality beers small pack.

Azimuth also gained Bronze in cask for strong bitters and pale ales.

Interesting that Azimuth only got bronze in cask. I could point to the fact that I think the extra carbonation in bottle, or in keg for that matter, lifts the aromas in Azimuth. It could just be that there were more entries (over twice the amount) in the cask section. Either way, there are some good beers that we beat, so I'm pleased.

To get a gold, and following on to a bronze overall is a testament I think to the quality of out brewing and our diligence to bottling process. From a pure financial point of view, having our own bottling line is dubious. However, we have full control over quality, the beer doesn't travel far and our determination to not sterile filter, and so we maintain flavours, ensures a superb end result. And the results of this competition are the proof.

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¹This isn't always the case, and there have been ructions, quite rightly at SIBA meetings, as a result of problems. However, I believe that where these problems have been spotted, aggrieved brewers are quick to jump in and point out that it isn't fair and transparent ensuring a good competition. Run by brewers, for brewers. We get het up when we even imagine someone else is getting an unfair advantage.

²Small pack refers to either can or bottle. At the moment, in SIBA competitions, there are not many brewers who are entering cans. There were none, I believe, in this region. Glass, for now, seems to still be the preferred package.

A list which is short

Working out how to push out beer to more people is something that preoccupies me quite a lot. Being tucked away in a corner of Cumbria, where there is not exactly a bustling centre of urban activity, creates challenges. The country side is stunning, but we don't have an easy ride from the perspective of finding sales opportunities.



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Luckily for us we keep getting mentioned in various publications, on-line and in the printed media. This doesn't happen by magic. It doesn't just happen because we make stunning beer. It happens because we work very hard to get our name noticed. The great thing is I enjoy engaging with the beer world, being a bit controversial, and helping to shake things up a bit. It gets me into trouble a little, but you know, you can't bake a cake without cracking eggs.

It isn't that there is a lower proportion of the population locally looking for stunning progressive craft beer, it is just that there are less people. A niche market in a small population is quite tiny. For this reason we do have to try a little harder than breweries that reside under a railway arch in a metropolis¹. Our rent might be lower for our quite deliciously expansive industrial unit on our significantly under-occupied industrial estate, but conversely our transport costs are higher.

But I digress into another preoccupation eating my Azimuth soaked braincells, that of the assertion beer is "cheap to make" - I do feel a little like tackling this one, but that's for another post. Hopefully Stringers Beer² might actually engage in a less rascally way this time, as he seems to be on my side from the nice rebuff he is seen to make on that point on an interesting comment exchange on Ed's blog.

In looking at costs associated with filling a glass with a particular beer, one thing that has to be done to make it happen is finding the correct audience. The route to market can be complex and is largely invisible to the beer drinker. For us, getting beer efficiently to say London we have to convince a distributor to buy the beer of us and then that distributor has to find pubs, bars or shops to buy it off them. The pubs and bars then have to sell the beer fast enough for them to want to re-order next time. This diverse route to market is like a chain; if any of links become damaged or broken our beer doesn't sell as well. Our market is geographically large but selectively niche. It is the way it is and we quite like it this way.

For any product, beer or otherwise, to succeed its awareness has to be heightened in all links of the supply chain. This, all by itself, can introduce significant costs into the overheads of the brand by way of traditional advertising and perhaps PR consultancy. Luckily for me I write this blog, which only costs me my time. We tweet and engage in Facebook etc. We deal with social media with what I believe is an honest and forthright approach. Sometimes this helps my business and sometimes it seems it doesn't.

We can't afford to pump lots of money into marketing and advertising, although we do a little. I hope to demonstrate the tight margins with beer when I do get around to my own rebuff of "beer is cheap to make" But just trust me, we are not rolling in cash, far from it. What we do instead is think up tangental things to do like silly Christmas Videos and taking beer halfway up a mountain.

Making good beer is of course important, but doing other stuff to actually get people to remember our name is also important.

This week we see our efforts pay off a little with Azimuth being listed on ShortList.com as one of 13 of the most exciting British Craft Beers. I doubt we'd have made the list by only making exciting beer, making noises about the fact also helps.

Stunning result, I think you'll agree.



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¹No, I'm not really thinking of anyone in particular, there are several that make very good beer, good on 'em.

²We are still friends, I think. Well, Ann and Becky are still talking even if us blokes are still strutting a bit of faux literary confrontation.

The Arguments in favour of keg

It is still amazing that there are people out there who believe keg is evil. It is now staggering me, considering the success of many new breweries with their keg offering, that there are people out there still decrying the introduction of Craft Keg, and citing it as a bad thing.

Of course mostly these people are middle aged, or older, stick-in-the-mud killjoys.

I've been looking back at some of my early blog posts. Back when I was really on a roll and trying to make my own mind up about CAMRA, cask beer, keg beer and the best way to package, distribute, dispense beer for the sake of the best drinker's experience.

Way back in 2009 I had a little play with keg beer. The results were encouraging. Since that time we have been honing our skills at putting beer into keg and strongly believe that there is a huge future for beers from small independent breweries to be distributed in this format.

What has never left my mind is the simple fact that around 85%¹ of all draught beer sold is keg.

Moreover, having recently done some sales calls around various local hostelries, I notice that there is a significant brand of IPA making its way into the mainstream in a big way, in the more trendy bars and circuit pubs that are much more popular with the younger drinker.

Many people like their beers cold, fizzy and crisp. Is this wrong? Are we wrong to try and tell them otherwise? I think that if people like fizzy chilled beer than they should be provided with it. I'd prefer they drank my cold fizzy beer than rather than someone else's.

So, we must accept that the overall keg market is much bigger than cask, and despite noises to the contrary, this situation is likely to remain the case for a long time to come. Notwithstanding the fact that for many outlets there are significant technical advantages of keg beer, for the small brewer it can also be an important route to market for their products.

But more than that, although there has been some ideas stating cask beer can be trendy by virtue of it being retro, it fails to have any long term real impact to a significant number of younger people. By contrast, I notice that many younger people are looking for more trendy drinks, and this has long included keg beers.

So, with the advantage of solid consistency, without the need for cask expertise in the outlet, staying fresher for longer once a container is breached, and an appeal to youngsters, surely we should stop demonising breweries who decide to push keg.

Getting youngsters to enjoy a broader range of beer has to be a good thing, even if they need keg to convince them of it. Frankly I don't care if they never decide to drink cask. Perhaps they like cold fizzy beer. But I'd like more people to drink my beer and if I have to make it cold and fizzy to get them to do it, then I will.

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¹Source:The Cask Report 2011-2012 - yes, I know, this is out of date. However, the 2013-2014 doesn't publish the figures, as best I can see. One can only assume this is because up until 2010, the last figures I can find, there was in fact a growth of cask as a proportion of the market. In 2010 cask had a 15.0% share of the total on-trade beer market. This figure was only beaten previously in 1998 when it was 16.1% - there was then a drop down during the Noughties to as low as 12.4%. All very interesting I feel.

Brewer's Kitchen Episode 3

Finally got there. It's been "in the can" for a few weeks, but these things take a bit of editing even to get down to the marathon length that they are.

We know they are too long and boring, so we will endeavour to get it much slicker.

The next episode is going to be a bit better planned. Much less footage of me cutting stuff up; we'll do that in the age old "and here's some we prepared earlier" leaving me to just explain what's going on in a much more compact way.

Meanwhile, I'd still like you to watch this, if you have the patience.



Hardknott Brewer's Kitchen Episode 3 from Hardknott Brewery on Vimeo.

Dulcimer - music to my ears

I often get requests for information from people who want to know where to get my beers. The trouble is, mostly, they go out on pallet, far, far away. And even then, even when we deliver direct, that bit is all organised nicely by Ann, so generally if the question is asked of me, then I normally look a bit of a twit and have to say "eerr, dunno, sorry"


A Dulcimer is an interesting stringed instrument that I particularly like. The hammered version, which I guess would have been the forerunner to the piano, can create in the right hands an interesting percussive-melodic sound, slightly medieval in feel, but with a seductive embrace that does it for me. Not enough musicians play them, and I'd buy one and have a go, if it weren't for the fact that Ann thinks I have enough instruments cluttering up the house already.

There is a place called The Dulcimer in Chorlton, near Manchester. They are arranging a festival for this coming Bank Holiday weekend. They have some of our beers, and for once I am in receipt of this information, hence I am sharing it with the world.

So get along there if you want to try Dark Energy, Infra Red or Azimuth. There are other great craft brewer's beers there too. There is apparently some music, although I have no idea if there will be a dulcimer player there or not.

Azimuth - as drunk by The Prime Minister

That's him, The Prime Minister, drinking Azimuth

Of course, everyone in the beer industry is somewhat irate at our Government right now. The beer duty escalator is a way of the beer duty being unreasonably increased without having to announce it in the budget. A stealth tax. The two most important charters in this piece are Jamie Reed, who is Labour, and  David Cameron, who is the Tory Prime Minister, in case you didn't know. To be honest, if it comes to politics, I sometimes want to bang heads together. They're all as bad as each other with their political party nonsense.

Still, when Mr Reed, bless him, invited us to attend The Palace of Westminster, I was reservedly pleased. Reservedly, as in I was unsure what the commercial advantage was of spending a few hundred pounds on yet another trip to London. It's PR I told myself, probably get me in the paper, again.

So, on Tuesday night we found ourselves on Whitehall saying hello to the plebs nice policemen with semi-automatic Maglight holders¹ at the end of Downing Street. We hadn't deliberately gone to see Mr Cameron early, but we had a long day travelling to London, doing deliveries and picking up empties on the way, dropping the van off at a friends pub before hopping on the underground into town. We got there very late, checking into the hotel, ran off to Chinatown to scoff late night stir fry. By the time we had eaten, the tube had stopped, so as the hotel was on the Thames the route took us down Whitehall right through the heart of our UK democratic power. To be honest, I'm surprised the police on Westminster's gates didn't arrest us for peaking through to try and see where we had to go the next day.

David Cameron meets Hardknott

Due to the early morning walk and subsequent late start in the morning we were one of the last to pitch up to our half table in the all too small Jubilee room. It wasn't easy to get ourselves organised and so irritations were starting. Discovering that the whole case of Rhetoric II had been put into the goodie bags for MPs added to the frustration. This underpinned a feeling that perhaps the trip might be a bit wasted, after all, what commercial benefit was there to giving away beer to politicians? Beer we would still have to pay duty on. paying members of the Government to drink our beer.

Anyway, soon things got going. Rallying speeches from the likes of Eric Robson and Doug Scott about how wonderful Cumbria is, helped buck me up. Soon the MPs of Cumbria were walking around, chatting and we got into full flow talking about beer and hops and all the wonderful flavours in good craft beer.

I did get several digs in at various people about beer duty. Pubs were discussed. All the MPs and their researchers, assistants and whatever hangers-on there were, seemed to be understanding and assured us that it should change. It does make me wonder why it doesn't when so many MPs are sure it should.

Soon there was a hubbub. Stand by your tables the Prime Minister is on the way.²

I poured a glass of Azimuth as he approached and he happily took a good taste.

"What have we got here?"

"Azimuth, it's an Indian Pale Ale"

"What makes it so sharp?"

If you look, you can see the Azimuth bottle on the left hand side.

I do wish people would stop saying that when they taste hoppy beer. Having had a flustered start to the day I didn't manage to have the presence to explain all the flavour descriptors of peach, apricot and honeysuckle that I find in the beer. I just blurted something about New World hops I expect.

After that I continued to serve and explain about beer to other hangers-on while Mr Cameron continued to walk the room. I did feel slightly shaky, although I noted later, far less excited about the whole experience than I have felt about far less important events in my life. I mean, it isn't every day you get to serve a beer to the Prime Minister that has been made in the brewery you own. OK, I know he's a Tory³, but we all have our faults.

Anyway, the ensuing press coverage has certainly pleased me. Our friends at the North West Evening Mail, in particular the Business Correspondent Will Metcalfe, got us good coverage in the paper out today. Also a good bit on the local ITV news where The Main Man is seen drinking aforementioned beer.

Not a bad day out I'd say.

ITV coverage for as long as the link stays valid.

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¹Why anyone would want to call a man holding an assault rifle a pleb is anyone's guess. Oh, and I'm no expert on guns, so don't flame me for using the wrong terminology here.

²I found it interesting that the Tory MP Rory Stewart had to be the one in PMQT that asked if David would visit the Cumbria Day. I expect it would not be seen as the right thing for him to agree if an opposition MP had asked the same thing.

³I've always wanted snobs to drink my beer. You can't get a bigger snob than a Tory<sup>4

4</sup>Yup, your right, Labour deserve just as much of a slagging, after all, they brought in the duty escalator in the first place, and besides, Jamie is my MP, and he's OK, despite being Labour.

Azimuth

Of course, Hardknott like to be different. We brew Infra Red as our 6.2% IPA despite complaints that it's got too much Crystal malt in it. I like it, and it seems quite a few other people are reasonably happy with it too. We know it has a fairly narrow appeal, and tends to be a bit of a marmite beer. Drinkers who like it tend to really like it. Anyone who isn't keen, really isn't keen. It's a niche beer and therefore has a narrow market. We like it the way it is, so we aren't changing it.

However, everyone else is making proper IPAs at that strength. You know the type, nice and pale, plenty of West Cost American or NZ contemporary hops. Nice balance of malt sweetness to give a very satisfying fruity Indian Pale Ale. Our recent collaboration with John Keeling of Fullers has been incredibly successful. The English Experiment has enjoyed a good reception from quite a few people whose opinions I respect.

The English Experiment also sells well, which is a very important point. You may have heard that we are expanding a little. That means we want to ensure people have no excuse for not buying our beer.

We¹ brewed the first ever batch of our new 5.8% IPA yesterday. It builds on everything we have already done, copies ideas from other people where needed, and then we added a very healthy dose of our own Hardknott stamp of authority. We think you'll like it. We really hope you'll like it.

Today we named it. Alex used to mess around on ships in a previous employ, which links nicely to the IPA theme. I have always had a fascination with maps, navigation, astronomy and geographic learning. Azimuth seems a name that fits the occasion, so that's what we'll call it. It's a beer with direction, you see.

We'll be serving it, assuming nothing goes terribly wrong, at the Leeds International Beer Festival. You can come along, try it, tell us what you think and then we'll go away and try and improved the recipe based on what you've told us. A month later we'll be at the Independent Manchester Beer Convention with the new improved version. We will again listen, take in everything you tell us, go away and have another go.

It's not really possible to involve the beer drinker any closer than this without actually getting them to brew the beer.

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¹Actually, Alex brewed it whilst we were out delivering. We had a few email exchanges discussing hopping regimes, which was tricky when I was on the M1, having to pull off into the services to make replies.

It was the first time Alex brewed when I was outside Cumbria. It has to happen occasionally as I'd like to have a holiday sometime.