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Glasgow Farmers Market, July 14, 2007 - Reporting fro mthe front line of beverage retailing. How odd - for the first time we take a sensible quantity of lager to Glasgow and it sells well, as one would expect. However the IPA goes much faster and seems much better received. This annying little man came up and asked if we would do a deal on four bottles as outr beer is more than the beer he buys in his local supermarket. I patiently explain to him the costs involved in making beer on an island mean one can't compete on price so we aim to compete on quality. Unimpressed he continues to witter on about a beer from the borders that he really likes that a pound a gallon on somesuch in Morrisons, which is apprently a supermarket. Tactic? Couldn't be sure, perhaps knock something off and win a customer for life. Be even more patient and go to further lengths to explain the difficulty of brewing two and a hlaf hours from the mainland. OR face reality and realise he ain't listening and serve the next person. That plan prevailed. Bet he was tee toal and just wanting a wind up. He did buy some of Barry's chutney thought, he'll be back next market complaing the nettles were not stingy enough or something,. [ add comment ] | permalink | related link There is allegedly a review of our IPA in the Scotman newspaper today. Can't find it online and so will have to wait til tomorrow if there is one spare in the shop. [ add comment ] | permalink | related link Our third farmers market in Glasgow tomorrow and for the first time we actually have supplies of lager to go. The first two were lagerless so it will be interesting to see how it goes. We bottled the latest lager brew yesterday and the opinion of Chris, Bo and David is that it is the best yet. Keith would have agreed however he is in NYC at the moment. So stand by Partick - your lager's on its way. [ add comment ] | permalink | related link The following is reproduced without coment from a highly regarded online beer commentator: The BeerCast 08 July 2007 Lagerboy Speaks Beer fancying isn't just about a competition to find the darkest, strongest, most pungeant brew you can. Most beer websites and blogs do tend to concentrate on that end of the spectrum, but only because they tend to be the most interesting and flavoursome. Even the most ardent lagerfan would probably admit the lack of taste the lighter-coloured stuff suffers from. But less taste doesn't mean no taste (unless you opt for certain lagers), there shouldn't be a stigma against drinking good lager - after all, it was invented by the Czechs, and they know more or less everything good about brewing. So amongst the BeerCast's regular malty, hoppy, caramelly (Podcast no.1 was brought to you in conjunction with that particular word) offerings, this committed Lagerboy will now and again pop up with a few drinks from the world of beers that you can actually see though. But just as 'real ale' suffers from an image problem, so does lager - one of popularity. In 2005, the UK lager market was worth £11.3bn - nine out of the top ten takehome beer brands were lagers (Guinness being the other). 42% of British adults now buy and drink it. By 2010, 80% of all UK beers sold are expected to be lager. Yikes. But most of the major brands out there are the same old suspects - Stella, Carlsberg, Carling, Fosters. They don't taste of much, they are fairly cheap, you can buy them in any off-licence or pub. But it doesn't make them any good. Take Stella, the UK's most popular lager (it has a third of the market), due to recent issues of 'branding', producer InBev added more boutique beers to the stable, a wheatbeer called Peeterman, and a 6% super lager called Bock, which someone bought by mistake the other week and nobody would drink it. Fosters, brewed in Edinburgh, is the typical Australian lager - except I lived there for almost a year and hardly ever saw it. You have to search them out, but local lagers are available. They cost more than the mass-produced types (although Stella recently went up again, by 12p a pint), but are infinately nicer, with more taste - and you get a pompous air of smugness to have sought out something regional that the other lagerboys will have never heard of. Take Colonsay Lager. Produced by a small new microbrewery from the tiny Scottish island of 120 people, they knock out this 4.4%abv gem using local ingredients and a slower fermentation process. That means the lager has a touch of the wheatbeer about it, and is a dark apricot, almost amber colour. Incredibly refreshing, and with a packed taste, it blows the Carlings of this world out of the water. Which can only be a good thing. Colonsay Brewery Posted by Richard at 12:09 PM [ add comment ] | permalink | related link Sometimes on this island matters of controversy arise, rumours are spread, mishaps befall folk. The brewery blog is not the place for this sort of human activity to be reflected or reported. As a matter of policy the brewery blog will not enter into maters of public controversy, debate or speculation. This is a firm rule. Rules are made to be broken - so here goes. WHO PUT THOSE BLOODY LIGHTS ON THE PIER. Navigational aids have been put on the pier, perch and rocks one imagines to assist the berthing of the ferry in the dark. The ferry timetable is constructed in such a fashion to ensure it does not berth in the dark save for perhaps a couple of late season sailings just before the winter timetable when it may berth in the gloom. Now we have four fast flashing lights that would require the BBC to offer a warning to epileptics were it to show film footage of it. They look like a crazed Chinese dragon dancer flitting round the pier. It is bizarre and pointless - unless I have the wrong end of the stick or they are going to introduce night time sailings and we're yet to hear of them. Phew - that's better. [ add comment ] | permalink | related link Back Next |
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