Hello everybody, it hasn’t escaped my notice that I haven’t written a blog for ages. It’s been a little hectic over the Summer and Autumn and brewing activities have occupied every spare hour – not only did Bishop Nick have to keep up with the usual late Summer demand for sacred ale, but it also had the small matter of a large contract with Wetherspoons to distribute “Divine” nationally. As the flurry of “Brew Day Experience” visitors found out – Friday was “Divine Day” for the last 10 weeks. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves helping me brew the stuff, especially the bit where I had to crawl about on my hands and knees to gather up the spent hops (see attached photos, taken by James the brain surgeon on a visit in early September).

Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying the “Divine” these days. We have enjoyed getting to know this beer much better ourselves and have given it a minor tweak of the recipe by adding a little more crystal malt to increase the body and nuttiness and also increased the hopping levels. Judging by it’s increase in popularity, we may have won over a few more customers.

Now it’s now December and we have the elephant in the room that comes to visit annually called the “C-word”. This year we have brewed two extra special ales for the festive period (both available in bottle) – “Prancer” at 4.5% and “Crown” at 3.8%. They are very different in character – “Prancer” is a more traditional, full-bodied deep ruby coloured ale, brewed with crystal rye malts and the English Challenger and fruity Bramling Cross hops – perfect with your main course and pudding. “Crown“, however is a lighter golden ale, hopped with the citrusy Comet and floral Cascade hop and designed to refresh you or to be drunk with your starter or just a bag of nuts, whatever takes your fancy…Bottles, minicasks, minipins and polypins will be available in our brewery shop and remember that the shop will be open Monday to Friday 9.00a,-4.30pm and we are open SATURDAYS from 10am to 1pm from this weekend through to the 21st December for all your beery gifts, including our excellent tankards.

If you don’t hear from me for a while, it’s because I’ll be wrestling with that elephant, so have a good C-word and I’ll see you all when the dust has settled.

Hello Bishop Nick drinkers, Alex here again after a long delay since my last blog – things have been a bit busy between Easter and Summer and I’ve struggled to find the time to write something witty or informative.

We’ve had a very successful Revelry Day and the special edition brew seems to have gone down well.  The Revelry Day beer gives me a few nightmares as it’s such an important day – dreaming of 800 people walking around looking like they’ve been sucking on lemons after a pint woke me up once or twice at 3am.  We have a good stock of bottles in our shops – it’s a golden summer ale with plenty of the fruity American “C” hops: Cascade, Centennial, Chinook and Comet, backed up by a rich maltiness.

With Revelry behind us, the Chelmsford Beer Festival is the focus of our attention this week.  I know a few attendees have asked about my whereabouts.  The answer is “in the brewery”.  Unfortunately making beer doesn’t stop for beer festivals!  To make up for my absence I’ve done my best to brew a nice beer to be launched at the festival called “Brimstone”.  I’m always happiest when I get the chance to brew a beer I think I’ll enjoy drinking myself.  I know that sounds a bit selfish, but it seems to have saved me from any major mishaps during my career (a peat smoked beer called “Goldfinger” in 2002 is the only exception!).

Too many breweries are trying to reinvent the wheel at the moment by raiding the kitchen cabinet and producing something wacky, simply in the quest to have a USP to make them stand out from all the other breweries.  Experimentation is fine, but not when it comes at the expense of drinkability.  A balance of sweetness, acidity and bitterness is key for all good drinks, but what works well for a soft drink may not work so well in a beer.  The modern trend seems to be strongish blonde ales with a huge, almost bubble gum fruity hop aroma, but with little evidence of malty goodness.

For “Brimstone”, in view of it’s lower strength (3.9%), I decided to add plenty of crystal, caramalt and Vienna malt to give it a good biscuity, malt body to balance the fruity citrus flavours and bitterness of the Simcoe and Crystal hops.  Hopefully it’s balanced, drinkable and moreish – I’ll let you be the judge of that (bottles will be available from next week) – if it’s not, do let me know and I’ll try harder next time…