What's Up & What's About?
Nov 02, 2025
What's up? I am. Too early on a Saturday! Anyway - Busses, Policemen, Brewing... You know how you wait ages for a bus then they all come at once, or you get pickpocketed and not a policeperson to be found but then two of them emerge at exactly the wrong moment for you - maybe going a tad fast or something?! - not me obviously but maybe you! Well brewing this week has had that feel to it. Friday was absolutely nuts - no gym session needed with 14,000 steps before lunch [and I barely left the brewery]... anyway beer-wise our 3rd busiest week of the year.
In terms of sales - Moondance and Pride have massively dominated followed by Black Velvet and Comfortably Numb. We were as close this week to running out of ready to ship Moondance as I can remember - we were OK but only by single digit casks - phew... Halloween and no Moondance would have been an ugly combination and the pitchforks would have been out for sure! But don't worry we've got a plenty of it with cellar conditioning of two weeks that gets put into casks Monday, ready to ship Tuesday - so we're not out as far as it concerns you but just a great data point that hopefully tells you it is really on form.
Otherwise trade feedback this week has been really mixed - some folks that usually ship a lot of ale saying their ale sales are slower but others (more) seeing things really going well. My conclusion is that at least some of those who have been seeing it slower have the wrong ales on - I would say that - and yes in every case it was someone else's they had on so all the more reason to disbelieve me - but this for me is quite a strong opinion - lightly held of course!
What's About?
So before we package any beer it obviously has to pass a few tests.
The most important two are:
A) finings check to work out the correct dosage and to be certain that the beer is ready for packaging - this is test tube stuff occasionally with some microscope action if things are not proceeding as expected - but if this test isn't working out we stop in our tracks and nothing gets packaged,
B) We taste it - this is the bit I like... though in reality it tends to be just a sip and funnily enough the best time is early in the morning before you have had a coffee... Anyway - yesterday morning's tasting was Pressed Rat. For my money the best one in a while... then I drank a pint of the old gyle (about 2 months old) in the tap room, and it was awesome...
The point is I guess conditioning... Cellar or cask conditioning - makes no real difference if done right - you get clearer beers if cellar conditioning but leave it too long in the conditioning tank and the beer might be flatter in the cask. A proper balancing act is beer... Part B though, that is something we can all do!
Anyway, we've got a great selection of perfectly conditioned beers - something for everyone and hope we can be a big part of your post Halloween and pre-bonfire night restocking!
Xen
P.S.
I am a Liverpool supporter which has not been an easy few weeks (not winning) and a friend of mine said to me (Liverpool won the league last season) - bloody hell Xen, your team are giving up titles faster than Prince Andrew.... I did't appreciate it of course but it did make me laugh.
Have a good weekend!
Xen
