We had a bored meeting this morning - for once we were not in the palatial surroundings of the managing director's house but in the more cramped conditions of the sales executive's Glassard cottage.
However tight on space though it may have been round the bored table there was comforting news from the man with the calculator and sharpened pencil. The second year, for we have just completed it, saw total sales at the brewery slide by ........ three per cent. Imagine the list of companies in today's climate that would like to see that figure on their balance sheet. There were interesting trends to see around individual figures and lessons to be learnt, maybe. However overall our little brewery put in a robust performance in troubled times. What will this year bring. At least we will not be troubled by the SNP's drive to get rid of over-cheap booze. You can throw many insults at us but over-cheap.....never.
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If you were to look at our big bother island website - www.colonsay.org.uk you would see that the line up for this year's Colonsay Festival has been announced....and its even more impressive than the first one.
There also seems to be a widening of the do with talk of other fringe events. Colonsay Brewewry is again keen to be a (the?) major sponsor of the festival. I wonder if there could be a spin on beer festival featuring our beers and others - say from other island breweries. Just an idea. We're having a meeting this week - one for the pot. Lets hope whatever happens there are no more nightmares.
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Remember the music - didly dee, didly dee, didly didly didly didly didly dee as the hapless cops chase the bandit of the day. So it is at the brewery where orders are piling in and fermenting is continuing - slowly. Yes we're out of beer again as another attempt to balance supply and demand falls flat.
So - fingers are out and hopefully bottles will be flying off the island soon - well sailing actually but you know what I mean.
Easter will soon be upon us and its back to full swing.
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Yes its fashion time of year again. The time when the brewery wives are to be found huddled over catalogues and websites deciding what's going to be hot, and what is not, for this year.
Its a worrying time in the clothes buying department, just ask Sir Stuart Rose. This is our third year and to be honest the first two years of brewery backing leisure and fashion items have all sold pretty well. A brewery magnate can scarce be more happy that to stand at the pier shed on a ferry night watching all the brewery zipper tops waiting with a tear in the eye to take their leave of our island.
This year. There's a challenge. If the high street is grinding to a halt Dunoran's hardly likely to be the retail hotspot of the UK.
However our shelves will not be bare - an exciting new range is under construction and will be on display by Easter. Brewing's the easy bit. See picking tee shirt colours - - it’s a nightmare.
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Page 5 of How to Run a Successful Brewery, Harper Collins £5.99p, gives us an important rule. When you are running out of beer brew some more. Its very easy on a wee island with many others things going on to kind of forget this little nugget.
So it was early on Monday, and again on Tuesday, the brewers were milling and boiling as the sun rose over Jura - Monday it was lager, today it was 80/-. You have to think long term (ish) in a brewery because Easter's not all that far away - soon the visitors will be back, the hotel open all the time and beer sales on the up.
So our stocks may be low at the moment, but we are on the way. Be patient - beer is near.
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