[definitely] not the messiah

What's Up? "he's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy" Was not in until lunchtime today as was doing a Speed Awareness Course. Yep I was naughty - 78 MPH on the M25 at 4:30am this summer (en route to Scotland). Not proud of it. The course generally useful - especially the reminders on stopping distance etc.. Drive safe everyone. 

We've equalled/exceeded last week again this week. Flat WoW but up 47% YoY. If you ordered from us last week - thank you, if you didn't - please order this coming week and see what all the fuss is about!

Part of my challenge here is to get everyone to think at least three weeks forward all the time, but at the end of the day the buck stops with me. So in one respect for a weekly scorecard this week I have failed. I might try and argue I get an "A" [for attempt!], but in reality the grade is more like an "F" [not a Triple FFF because that would be a terrifffic grade obvs!]. 

Why the bad grade? Well, we are out of Black Velvet (have it in bottles though!) for about the next week or so - it just flew - beyond all expectations. "That isn't enough for an 'F'" I hear you thinking... True... BUT unless you reply to this email literally first with an order, then we are out of Comfortably Numb for a ten days and out of Dazed and Confused (for a few months - Winter Sunset coming next with an improved recipe and a 4% ABV in terms of seasonals). 

To be fair on myself it is good, really good to be selling a lot of beer but at the same time we thought that the huge upswing in Moondance and Alton's Pride [since winning World's Best Bitter at the World's Best Beer Awards] would be where most of the supply stress was. Seems not. Humbled by the flattery, humbled by the learning and will probably be more of a jerk in next week's meeting about the three-week-ahead thing - a fool learns from their own mistakes, a wise man from the mistakes of others! 

What's On? 
Still lots of great variety to offer! - New offering Harvest Moon - 4.6% - sort of part of the Moondance stable, as was Whole of the Moon - but very different to Moondance... don't have a huge amount in cask but have a shed load in bottles... can explain more to the beer-curious on this one - might even give the whole story next week...

What's about? Aside from continuing to build beer-sales volumes as a path towards profitability for Triple fff, having some pubs is very much part of the plan and the strategy. Right now we have none. Graham owns a free-house and I am trying to get completion on one too but they are outside of Triple fff. 

So yesterday I was in a lovely local town looking at a property. We knew it a bit. The person who ran it before was a very decent human being but according to local folklore got worn down by the tie and lack of funds to make it into what it needed to be to compete as a tied-pub. A familiar story. So many excellent hospitality folks are, admittedly, in an OK place in that they make a living but a) it is a hard one, b) it is hard to get to escape velocity and raise funds to get out and go it alone. It is kind of how the tied model works. None of us like it that much, but we're all used to it - we know the rules, no crying. 

Anyway, I digress. The pub was in a tired state - not helped by metal hoarding etc., but it has potential - the pub literally next door has not taken our beer in years, so we lose no sleep about potentially taking business from them if we give it a go... That said we are passionate believers in Pubs and would not look to do them harm. Pubs are our most important clients by far, but we love everything about them. Better community spirit and harmony. Happier communities. An essential part of British culture... we can go on all the way through to higher surrounding property prices too but you get the point. Pubs are mission-critical. 

Here is the shocker. Of the seven different folks at the viewing I was the only one looking at it as a pub. All the others were all property developers. Anyway - we're still in play for it, but goodness me this was a bit of a wakeup call - and to the credit of the brewery (a big, old one) selling it they said they might be more positively disposed price wise to sell it to a brewery... let's see - money talks and bullshit walks as the saying goes!

Have a fabulous weekend and hope we can bring you some beer next week.

Xen

P.S.

Since we are talking property developers...

A property developer dies and arrives at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter says, “You can choose between Heaven and Hell.”

First, he shows him Heaven—peaceful, serene, people playing harps on clouds.

Then they visit Hell—amazing penthouse views, rooftop parties, infinity pools, everyone having a great time.

The developer says, “I’ll take Hell!”

A week later, St. Peter checks in and finds the developer knee-deep in fire and brimstone, being tormented by demons.

“What happened?!” the developer screams. “Last week this place was incredible!”

St. Peter shrugs and says, “Last week you were looking at the showroom model, we gave you what you asked for, if you don't like it, unlucky but contractually you got what you asked for."

Bon weekend,

Xen