Brewer's Blog - my favourite time of year!

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.