Hello all,

Quick update of what’s been going on in the last couple of months (must remember to update this more often!).

Festivals ahoy this year – Already done Bradford, next week are MOSI, Hawkshead and Eccles RFC, with Stockport of course in June. I’m a main sponsor for the Saturday session so I’ll be around for most of the weekend, come and say hello.

Bottles are starting to trickle out, going to the usual places aswell as a bit further afield, already had some orders for large quantities so will have to step up production and try to balance out cask and bottle sales.

Plans are afoot for some exciting collabs and one off specials, the keywords for a few are ‘barrel aged’, ‘Chimay yeast’ and ‘foraged’ just as a bit of a teaser…

The newest version of Pale Ale is tasting absolutely brilliant from the fermenting vessel, so thanks to all on Twitter (@not_that_jamie, @FoodfanStockpt, @broadfordbrewer & @hopsinjoor) for suggesting the hops, which turned out to be Chinook, Columbus, Stella and Cluster (Cluster was my addition). It should be out in cask, keg and bottle in a couple of weeks.

I’m in a dilemma about the weather warming up as it means it’ll soon be horrifically hot in the brewery and I’ll have to fire up the refrigerator more to keep fermentation under control. I’ve not seen any flies yet but I’m hoping that the fermenting room will keep most of them away, feels like a losing battle though.

Cash flow remains a pain in the arse but I’ve done all my big spending for a month or so, so I should have a bit of breathing space. There are some people who are just crap at paying up but I’ll mention no names, I’m sure I get thought of just as badly when people see me getting the cheque book out.

Some more potentially exciting news coming next month but you’ll have to wait until I actually know it…

Busy month this month, been brewing lots and getting to play with new season US hops, which is always nice.

Beer still going in at the usual places, we’ve got some beer going to the Bradford Beer Festival next week, the Bitter and the Stockporter. Make sure you try them if you’re there.

We have a Meet The Brewer night at The Waterhouse on the 29th this month with lots of beer on, so come and have a pint and a chat if you can.

And finally, I’ll be supplying and semi-hosting a Beer and Sausage pairing night at the Soup Kitchen in conjunction with Frost’s of Chorlton, I think it’ll be on the 22nd, so that’ll be a lot of fun aswell.

Hopefully see you at some or all of the events!

I hope everyone has had a good festive season, but now we’re back in the real world and the days are getting lighter – lots and lots to do this year to grow the business.

The last brew of the year turned out to be a 7% porter which Ed has named ‘Grimley’s Stockporter’ in a stroke of genius. It’ll be going out next week. Don’t know where yet, though expect it in the usual suspects.

Looking forward to NWAF next week. Hopefully see some of you there.

The second batch of Antipodean Amber is now in cask, the Aramis IPA is tasting great, down to 1.013 so I’ll give it a couple of days to stabilise before chilling, probably in cask on Saturday…working on Christmas Eve, who’d've thought it, but when running your own business all normal hours go right out of the window pretty much immediately. Never did mind working Saturdays anyway. Barring any disasters, I refuse to work on Christmas Day and intend to spend the day cooking and drinking.

I have given over the last brew of the year to Ed Grimley’s mind (@EdGrimley) to use up the last of the pale malt before the next delivery, so it’s anyone’s guess as to what it’ll be! You can count on it being good though.

Today marks the first day of proper snow and the brewery is faring well, nothing broken, roof still intact (apart from the few perennial leaks that seem to be immovable). Only time will tell if the frost bursts any pipes – next week I’m going to lag every single piece of water carrying pipe in preparation.

As it’s nearly Christmas it got me thinking about brewing the Imperial Stout again. It was great fun to brew and I think I’d like it to be in 330ml bottles in future. Maybe some 500ml for the more masochistic of you. I might also up the abv to 9%. It’ll probably be the New Year before I get the next malt delivery, so until then I’ll be doing the final brew of the year, still not sure what it’ll be though!

Any thoughts?

Hello all,

So, the new website is now up and running, albeit in a skeleton fashion. I’ll be updating news on the brewery most days to let you know where beer is going and what new beers to look out for in the future.

Today I’ve just brewed the newest of the single hop IPA series, with a new French hop called Aramis. Its parentage is from noble hops but it has an excellent aroma, like a ramped up First Gold, with hints of citrus and gooseberries. I’m quite confident that it’ll work quite nicely in the beer, and it’d also work quite well in an English bitter. As a dry hop it’ll be lovely.

The Stella IPA has now been racked, and it was all sold out before it was even out of the fermenter. It’s going to the National Winter Ales Festival (along with the Quantum Stout), Port Street Beer House, Font Bar, The Waterhouse, and The Sparrow in Bradford.

I’ve got one more brew to do before Christmas, not decided on what it’ll be yet. May have to be something silly.