Circle Game...

What a couple of weeks it’s been! Since we got back from our weekend in Reading it’s been non stop. Another busy week in the brewhouse cooking up all kinds of fun new beers. The weekend before last, we headed up to Newcastle for the day for a tap takeover at the Free Trade Inn. We had 12 taps of our beer and a great spot in the beer garden on the first and probably last sunny day of the year. True to form we all starting on the newest beer of ours: Soul Engine. At 3.0% we had to work hard to get as much flavour as possible into a tiny tiny IPA. I think after the day of rigorous quality control we managed to reach a consensus that we achieved it! A combination of a big mash of oats and wheat, with lactose in the boil, plus a bonanza of hops thrown in for good measure make this a tasty beer that you can, if you so wish, drink all day, and we did! Incredibly by the end of the day all but one beer had gone completely. Thanks to Mick and the team for hosting us. In the week that followed we had a fair old challenge ahead of us. With our new and improved brew house line up of me plus new recruit, Luke, we’re getting to a point where we’re a fairly well oiled machine. Still, this week was a toughie! The best bit however was hosting probably our favourite brewery, De Molen, for a ma-hoosive brewday. After lots of recipe tweaks with gaffer Menno, we set out on day 1 of 2 of a brew of an Imperial Gingerbread Milk Stout. The plan was to aim for at least 12%. So over 2 brews, super long boil lengths, no sparging, and all the roasted malts you can shake a stick at, we now have a ridiculous stout, which is still bubbling away a week and 2 days later. This week we added honey, ginger and cinnamon. Even at this early stage it’s tasting incredible! We can’t wait to share this beer with you all. A lot of ridiculousness has gone into it, and the chance to brew with dark beer stalwarts De Molen was a pleasure and a learning experience all in one. Naturally we took them out to a few of our favourite York haunts in the evening. This one should be ready… when it’s ready! The beer is driving the ship and we’re just along to guide it as best we can. The next day was no easier… and probably the most ridiculous day we’ve had at the brewery: The second full brew of the imperial stout, 4 pallets prepped and shipped out the brewery, a van full of beer delivered, super speedy set up of our bar at the Falcon Tap, and then a night of pouring beers for our birthday party in our own little bar. Madness! The weekend was a lot of fun. Friends, family, familiar faces and everyone else came down to the Falcon Tap to celebrate our 1st birthday with us. We had much fun indeed. Sadly this weekend was the last Falcon Tap weekend, before it closed on Sunday (more on that in another blog). Though it was great to be there for the last weekend, we’re sad to see such a great pub go. This week, most of our tanks are still filled with strong beer that needs time and patience, so we’ve done a lot of cleaning, managed to package 2 new beers in both cask and keg, and even squeeze in a brew day of Lucid Dream). Next week we’re back brewing as normal, as we’re all but out of beer. Before we leave today though, we’ve just received a brand new jet washer, so we need to play with it for a bit. It’s the little things.